Bordeaux, Stevens lead Bellarmine Prep girls basketball team in hunt for 4A title

It’s an oft-said axiom that the journey is more important than the destination.

For at least the past two seasons, the Bellarmine Prep girls basketball team has fully embraced the journey.

“We have a lot of girls who are competitors, who don’t like to lose,” Bellarmine coach Kim West said. “But, we don’t have to win every game to have one of our best seasons.”

Just a year ago, Bellarmine dropped games but eventually advanced all the way to the Class 4A state semifinals at the Tacoma Dome. The core of that team were underclassmen, and have returned to try and take that final step.

“We’re coming off an amazing year,” West said. “It’s all about going and stretching ourselves, even if we are coming up short. We prepare for the post-season.”

The Lions journey has included bumps again this season, though not many. They currently reside in second-place in the SPSL, behind Rogers, at 10-2 in league. They are 13-3 overall.

Leading the charge has been senior forward Julia Bordeaux, coupled with the outside shooting threat of Callie Stevens.

“What is so special,” West said. “It’s so fun to watch her just take over. And she’s not even a basketball player.”

Bordeaux’s own journey has taken her along many avenues, and come next fall it will take her to South Bend, Indiana, where the lithe 6-footer will take her athletic talents to Notre Dame - not to play basketball, but golf.

“I grew up playing any sport,” Bordeaux said. “And I always loved all of them. It’s why I hadn’t specialized yet.”

Eventually, though, it came down to basketball or golf for her collegiate sports future. Because she so enjoys both roads, the choice took some time.

“I do love aspects of both individual and team sports,” Bordeaux said. “I think from a young age I excelled at golf, though. That piqued more interest. It challenged me like nothing else.”

Even challenged, she won. Bordeaux won a Washington Junior Golf state championship at 10 years old.

“Having those kinds of successes are fun,” Bordeaux acknowledges.

When she visited South Bend, she found her next athletic home immediately.

“It was a perfect fit for me,” Bordeaux said.

Still, the Irish are the future. The present remains on the basketball floors in gymnasiums right here at home, with teammates that Bordeaux will miss once the ride is over.

“Everyone on this team has a lot of fun playing together,” Bordeaux said. “I’m grateful every day. That’s really special to me. It’s really sentimental. I keep reminding myself of that.”

For West, having Bordeaux is like having an extension of the coach on the floor.

“My control is in the preparation,” West said. “Julia is our charismatic connector. If you are going into battle to fight for your life, who do you want to take? That would be her. She’s my voice on the court, my proxy.”

But even a court leader can’t get where Bellarmine wants to go on her own. The Lions have other offensive options, led by 5-foot-7 guard Callie Stevens.

Unlike Bordeaux, Stevens future does lie on the court. She will play at Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho, next fall.

“It’s the place I want to go for four years,” Stevens said.

Not that Stevens is focused beyond the next several weeks.

“Honestly, I see this team going far,” Stevens said. “This team works hard.”

“Callie just has an insurmountable will to win,” West said of her long-range sharp-shooter. “She’s a specialist of the game. She’s one of the few remaining gym rats.”

West knows about gym rats. She’s been one herself, having played at Bellarmine Prep herself before going on to college and so much further.

West’s father is English. The coach has dual citizenship, which allowed West’s own journey to take her all the way to the Olympic Games playing for England in 2012.

“It was the pinnacle of my career,” West said.

She now has returned home to coach her alma mater, which is currently led by a golfer.

“Julia is an athlete and competitor,” West said. “She’s an amazing teammate for having the mentality of golf, which is an individual thing.”

Bordeaux believes that golf actually has helped her basketball game.

“It relates more than you’d think,” Bordeaux said. “Staying in games mentally comes from what I’ve learned on the golf course.”

On the course, it’s about quickly forgetting and putting aside a bad shot even as you prepare for the next. On the court, it’s about forgetting that last bad shot or foul.

“Is it possible for one single player to keep the team playing at its best ability?” West said. “Yes. It’s her. She celebrates the team.”

And when the team is finished, they hope in the final game of the 2019-20 season on a March Saturday in the Tacoma Dome, Bordeaux can move forward on her own journey.

“I’m excited for the first time in my life to focus only on golf,” Bordeaux said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 6:00 AM.