The number doesn’t matter.
Whether it reads second or eighth, the only thing that the W.F. West High School girls basketball team cares about is leaving the Yakima Valley SunDome with some kind of hardware.
So when they exited the Palm Springs of Washington empty-handed, it was an emotional scene in the concourse.
“We’re older, we’re wiser and the focus this year is working with each other’s strengths,” senior forward Julia Dalan said. “We can’t be that good of a team if we aren’t all bonded together.”
With the reigning Evergreen Conference MVP back, alongside the engine at point guard and several other key returners, the Bearcats believe they have the pieces and the depth to challenge for a trophy once again, perhaps the biggest one.
As Kyle Karnofski enters his sixth season at the helm, he is approaching 100 career wins, but has only coached this program to two state wins once.
His goal, like his team’s, is to change that this winter.
“I don’t know if it is raised at all,” Karnofski said. “Everybody wants the first place (trophy), only one team can get it. When we play the right way and we play how we can, we’re in that mix somewhere.”
Within the first two contests of the 2024-25 season, one milestone has already been made.
Dalan, a Portland recruit, passed former teammate Drea Brumfield for most career points with a 29-point performance versus Montesano.
She now sits at over 1,370 and will potentially extend it for another two-plus months of hoops. Fellow senior Amanada Bennett could also stand atop a handful of records for W.F. West.
Surprisingly, with other commitments over the summer, the group that is already off to a 2-0 start only played one game with each other prior to the season-opener.
“Our girls are hungry this year,” Karnofski said. “They see the writing on the wall, big picture and they want to go for it.”
For the most part, it is the same group, minus the glue girls of Lena Fragner and Carlie Deskins to graduation.
Dilyn Boeck, Joy Cushman and Kaitlyn Chloupek were thrown into the fire as freshmen and answered the bell. Boeck was named first team all-league while the other two were honorable mention.
It took until the state tournament for Boeck to come out of her shell as a pure scorer. She’s carried that into the first two games by averaging 16 points per night.
“I can tell they’ve been improving their game,” Bennett said. “It is scary to be thrown in as freshmen. They’re really good.”
Rhylee Beebe, a transfer from Tumwater, adds a defensive element that Karnofski feels was needed to offset the loss of Fragner. Grace Simpson also saw valuable minutes and is expected to take on a larger role this winter.
It didn’t take long for the Bearcats to see how Beebe fit right in.
“She has a lot of aggression,” Dalan said.
Since 2011, W.F. West has finished at least first or second in the league. The record in that span is 121-13. It hasn’t faced the resistance from its peers to challenge itself in preparation for Yakima.
The non-league schedule is daunting.
Class 2A Semifinalist Clarkston comes to Chehalis as does 1A state qualifier King’s. The Bearcats go to Eatonville, Ridgefield, Washougal and Tahoma before the EvCo slate starts after Christmas against Tumwater.
“We’re trying to see how we stack up against these teams,” Karnofski said. “We’re not playing slouches for a reason. These teams are tough. I wanted this team to be challenged.”
There were moments last season, particularly down the stretch, where W.F. West went cold from beyond the arc and teams started to double team Dalan down low, making life difficult for the 6-foot-4 post.
Bennett and Dalan were in lockstep on needing to adjust in-game sooner.
“We stick together,” Bennett said.
Seemingly every year, 2A is loaded.
Ellensburg reloads seemingly every year, Prosser brings some key players back, Lynden aims to defend its state title and Archbishop Murphy is expected to contend.
W.F. West feels it is side-by-side with those programs.
“If we build on the blocks we have, we’re more than capable of placing,” Dalan said. “We have all the things we need to be successful.”
