WP: District Champs x 2

WALLA WALLA - How did they do it?

One word: Belief.

Belief in themselves, belief in their teammates, belief in their coaches, belief in their community, belief in victory.

Belief was a recurring theme in comments from everyone interviewed about the 2011 Cardinals basketball teams' success in the past two weeks.

That belief, combined with a hunger to win and a depth of physical talent, lined up for something that has never happened before in history.

Both Cardinals teams - the women still undefeated, the men undefeated but by two points the entire season - became district champions at Whitman College Friday night, beating the Dayton Bulldogs and the DeSales Irish. (See full game coverage on page 7)

"Coming out of the football season, we saw what it was like to go deep into state," senior Cardinal T.J. Hofer said. "Now we have the same feeling in basketball."

" We have more talent than we've ever had," said women's head coach Jerry Baker, who has coached in Waitsburg off and on for two decades and has never seen teams "this good."

"Usually, you have two or three good players," he said. "Now any of our players can go out there and put up 20 points."

Never before has Waitsburg or Prescott alone or as a combine produced a men's and a women's team to make it this far at the same time.

But the kind of "belief" expressed by the teams has to have a foundation, and it won't be a surprise to anyone that the Cardinals' success is the result of a lot of hard work.

It all started around harvest time, when many WP athletes attended summer basketball camp, playing nearly three dozen games. Playing summer after summer, some older Cardinals have as many as 150 camp games under their belts from the past three years.

Of course, one could go back even further in time. Many of today's players started their hoop dreams in fifth grade, playing together as though it has become part of their genetic code. It explains why fans see so many seamless moves on the court: smooth backhanded passes from Kris Cady to Zach Bartlow, for instance, that rack up the layups and leave opposing defenses scratching their heads. And quick passes under the board from Megan Withers to Genesis Pearson that are so well practiced the players could probably execute them blindfolded.

On defense, players like Kristin Potter, Krystal Harris, Dustin Wooderchak and Cady read offensive plays with laser focus so they can block, disrupt or intercept a large number of passes or shots and stick it back in the other bucket in what Cardinals announcer Fred Hamann would call "coast-to-coast" fast breaks.

"We just all like each other," said Wooderchak. "We work well together."

That ability to collaborate successfully is true as well for the women, who quickly shook off the controversy from the volleyball season and came together like few other teams before them.

Players on both teams have their egos well under control, preferring to pass to a teammate for a sure score rather than risk a more difficult individual play for personal glory, men's head coach T.J. Scott said.

"We've learned how to win," he said. "It's carried over from football, baseball and basketball last year (when the Cardinals men's team also went to state)."

And that confidence in each other is critical in the heat of the game, senior Cardinal Alyssa Hafen said. "It's important to have that rhythm and not freak out under pressure."

It helps that both teams have size under the basket and speed on the court. They execute well under pressure, taking advantage of most field and free throw shots as was evident in Friday's victories in the district championship games.

The combination of athletes from Waitsburg and Prescott has helped boost numbers on the teams.

At the same time, private schools in the 2B league that had a numbers advantage when the economy was better and more parents could afford to send their kids there have seen their student athlete ranks go down, said Ross Hamann, president of the Cardinals Booster Club and local sports historian.

" It's partly a numbers game," he said. "Year after year, we have to work with what we have. This year, we have a tall group and coaching consistency."

Baker, Scott and their assistants (who also groom the next generation of varsity players) are also credited as being among the best coaches in the league, if not the district.

"They deserve to win," Bulldogs men's head coach Roy Ramirez said after the Cardinals beat his team in the district championship game.

Only six years ago, teams struggled through the season without much success, Hamann said. Baker, Scott and their staff have brought a caring for the kids and an intensity to their practice schedules that have greatly improved the programs, he said.

And in the end, the support from the parents and community can't be underestimated, Hamann said.

"The early start (in basketball camps) pays off, but that takes a commitment from parents and coaches too," he said, referring to the fact that coaches aren't paid for their summer practice schedules.

Plus the parents leave the starting strategies to the coaches. Few, if any, are pushing them to give their own kids playing time, Hamann said.

The WP men's team faces Brewster, while the women play White Swan. Both games are at University High School in Spokane on Friday, Feb. 25. Women start at 7 p.m.,; men at 9:15 p.m.