Bonney Lake’s ‘Twin Towers’ have Panthers primed to capture 3A PCL crown

Being fraternal twins, it’s easy for teammates to tell Bonney Lake High juniors Carly and Dana Gibbon apart, but once the sisters start playing together, it’s as if they share one mind while moving in sync along the net.

It’s rare to have one talented blocker, but a pair of sisters known to swat shots back, that’s quite the find.

And with Tuesday’s (Oct. 25) game against Stadium (6-8, 6-7 league) deciding whether the Bonney Lake (12-2, 11-2) captures the 3A Pierce County League, it will be in part because of the performance of the Panthers’ Twin Towers.

“When we’re blocking together, the other team is like, ‘Oh crap ... what am I going to do?’” Carly said. “They can’t hit it through us. They can only hit it over us or tip or whatever. It allows us to tip it back up.”

Carly, the more outspoken of the two, always seems to have smile and high-five ready, while keeping a sharp glare on opponents. Dana is the quiet one of the two, who is more direct and to the point in how she approaches things.

It’s funny how well the Gibbon sisters have performed this season despite the lack of actually playing together growing up.

High school is the only place Carly has played with Dana, and after putting their names in contention for all-league honors at the end of the season, it’s a wonder why they never hooked up on the court before.

“We’ve known each other our whole lives, and we just know how each other plays,” Dana said. “We play well together and encourage each other.”

“We never get to play together accept for last year,” Carly added. “It’s cool because teams are intimidated by us. We’re the Twin Towers.”

What’s more intimidating to opponents is the sheer competitive nature in the Gibbon sisters, who have been known to fire up their Panther teammates with raw passion and emotion. And it doesn’t hurt when rivals look across the net and see Bonney Lake’s imposing blockers go at it with each other once in a while.

“We’re siblings, right? Sometimes we get mad at each other because we’re going to say rude things to one another,” Carly said. “But I don’t think I’ve ever been mad at her for more than 10 minutes.”

It’s passion to want the best from your teammates, and it’s love to want it from your family.

Sometimes that’s what makes these dynamics so hard to deal with, knowing each other so well that any small gesture or word can push the right — or wrong — button at the right time.

“I feel like it’s a game, and people do say things in games they don’t really mean,” Dana said. “If you dwell on it, it’s going to make you play worse. So you have to get over it.”

With only a few losses on the season, it has been easy for the Panthers to not hold hard feelings toward any comment made in the moment. The focus has always been on the task at hand: capturing the 3A Pierce County League championship.

“Being league champ and getting that banner on the wall is a huge deal because (the high school) is only 10 years old,” Carly said. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

“This has been our best season, so we just want to give it our all and thank every opportunity we get,” Dana added. “Hopefully we get to go to state and do well.”

With a win Tuesday, Bonney Lake is guaranteed a share of the inaugural 3A Pierce County League championship.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Bonney Lake’s ‘Twin Towers’ have Panthers primed to capture 3A PCL crown."