No more excuses for Rams girls basketball as program eyes state berth

After losing in the Class 4A district tournament last season, the Rogers High girls basketball team is prepared to get over the hump this year.

“I think we can get past districts and into the state (tournament),” senior Kendra Specht said.

And why not be boastful this early in the season? Rogers has many elements to keep opponents on their heels — mainly an abundance of speed on the roster to match the Rams’ big presence in the post, Sophie Wicker.

“I think it comes with the atmosphere of the whole Rogers program wanting to be a dominant program,” Jessie Westering said.

The Rams are boastful with their early season confidence, but it’s not hard to be when the team’s primary contributors last year were freshman and sophomores. It’s the difference how a year can change a team’s outlook.

Last season, Rogers was one of the youngest teams in the SPSL South Division. That youth often showed itself early in the season, yet even with mistakes leading to losses, Rogers youth demonstrated an untapped well of potential.

The Rams are still young this season — Specht is the team’s only senior — but there are no more excuses for this team. Making it to the district tournament last season put an end to those.

“It’s nice being a leader to all of them,” Specht admitted. “I played on varsity for two years, so I know how things go and how things work in what the coaches expect.”

No, this season is about reaching that potential shown and getting Rogers further into the postseason.

“I just want them to go out and build on what we accomplished last year,” coach Amy Looker said. “We set a really strong foundation, and now we can get into more details.”

These Rams know Looker’s system by now, and after a few weeks of work inside the Rogers gym, the team looks primed to open its season schedule on the right track when the Rams host Enumclaw and Kentridge this week.

“We just have girls who love to play basketball,” Westering said. “You don’t always get that in a high school team … we just want to be the best we can be.”

If Rogers can start out on the right foot this year, its early confidence will be justified. The question is whether or not the Rams take that next step and turn themselves into what they believe they are: a dominant girls basketball team in the South.

“Coming into our first practice and tryouts, we already had a really good connection,” Specht stated. “We work a lot better together than we did last year. And when we play together, we’ll have a lot of success.”

True words from a captain who understands the philosophy Looker aims for with the program.

“They’re fast, they work hard and they like each other,” Looker said. “And those are fun elements of a team. They came in with strong fundamentals, so we get to work on team stuff (instead).”

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 12:32 PM with the headline "No more excuses for Rams girls basketball as program eyes state berth."