SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2019 | 3B
Cole
from 1B
was ready for it.”
Cole was a point
guard, and an aggressive
one at that.
“Too aggressive, prob-
ably,” she laughed. “I
fouled out a lot. I just
wanted the ball. I got a
lot of fouls because I
would drive hard.
Actually, I got my
defenders to get a lot
more fouls than I ended
up getting. They called it
a block when it was a
charge, when it probably
should have been a
charge. But that was
alright.”
Cole was playing
during the last of the
Lady Vik’s winning years
between 2011 and 2013.
In her first year, they
made the playoffs.
“We played Hidden
Valley at home, and it
was probably the best
game I’d ever been
involved with,” she
recalled. “We were down
by 2 with 10 seconds left.
So, we ended up barely
getting the layup in and
went into overtime. And
then we ended up pull-
ing off a win, and it was
at home. It was insane.
Our student section was
just so lively, it was liter-
ally one of the best
games I’ve ever been in.”
The next game, against
Madris, was a blowout
against Siuslaw. But that
in no way spoiled her
love of the game.
“Second year, we came
in, we had almost the
same amount of girls.
We still had a tall post.
They got us into the
playoffs that second
year. I don’t remember
who we played, but we
were able to make the
playoffs two years in a
when you were brought
up three years with dif-
ferent philosophies, and
then having everything
change up — that was
rough for me. That was
the year things started
going downhill for
There was more poten-
tial for the girls to be
better than what they
were playing. It was hard
for me to watch it
because there was so
much that could have
been done to get the
“Rebuilding is ground zero, and I
wouldn’t say we’re there.”
—Ashlee Cole, new SHS girls basketball coach
row. It was awesome.”
For Cole, the success
of the first two years had
a lot to do with coach
Aaron McNeil.
“He is still someone I
look up to as a coach,”
she said. “A lot of his
philosophies intermin-
gle with my philoso-
phies. Growing up with
a good coach does a lot
for a player. He just real-
ly cared for the girls in
general. Even if it wasn’t
in practice. Even now, I
can go to him and say,
‘Can you help me with
this.’ Whatever it is, he’ll
drop what he’s doing and
help me. Same thing
with Sean O’Mara.”
In Cole’s senior year,
McNeil retired and the
mood on the team shift-
ed.
“It was rough for me
because I had the same
coach for three years,”
Cole recalled. “I was
expecting to have
McNeil for four years.
But then having some-
one else come in with
different philosophies,
Siuslaw basketball, just
wins and losses. That
was a hard year because,
even though we had
more wins than losses
overall, it was still hard
keeping their winning
mindset. Even trying to
keep my winning mind-
set was hard.”
By the end of the year,
the team only pulled off
three wins in league play.
But Cole viewed her
time as successful.
“The last year was still
fun,” she said. “It was
always fun. But senior
night, knowing that was
going to be the last time
I was going to step on
that court as a player —
that was hard.”
She would come back
to watch a few games but
found that experience to
be even harder.
“I would stand on the
side of the bleachers and
I would pace the whole
time,” she said. “I
couldn’t stand to watch
it anymore. I saw more
potential in the girls
than what was going on.
potential out of those
girls. But it didn’t hap-
pen.”
She wasn’t a back-
bench coach, opting to
keep her opinions to
herself.
“But the potential was
out there. You have to
get it out of the girls as a
coach,” said Cole.
So, when the position
opened, she applied,
vowing to get build on
the potential that she
knows the team has.
Despite the losses,
Cole doesn’t view the
upcoming season as a
rebuilding year.
“Rebuilding is ground
zero, and I wouldn’t say
we’re
there,”
she
explained.
“With
rebuilding, the girls have
no mindset of how to
play basketball and may
not really want to play.
Basically, the sport’s
ruined for them.”
But as Cole wraps up
her first week of practic-
es, she said that’s far
from where the team is
at.
“All the girls were
hyped up, excited and
cheering,” she said.
“They all want to be
there. They all still want
to play. They have a
drive to play.”
As for what the team
worked on in the first
week, it was back to the
basics.
“Yesterday,
they
worked on passing, just
straight chest passing,”
said Cole. “Today, it’s
dribbling. Tomorrow,
layups. Everybody right
now is on ground level
so we can start fresh.
Until I get to the point
where I need to make a
JV and varsity, I’ll start
putting together some
plays and seeing what
will work best. I’m going
to wait and see what
plays will work best with
the girls I have.”
And she’s also working
on coaxing out the
aggressiveness that she
had when she played.
“They are aggressive,”
she said with a smile. “A
few of them have had
some foul trouble, they
need to get a little better
at that. But just seeing
them aggressive with
scrimmaging in practice
is really great to see.”
But the team isn’t
aggressive with each
other on a personal level,
which really gives Cole
hope.
“The upperclassmen
are really pushing the
freshmen, getting them
involved,” she said.
“They’re not isolating
themselves with the girls
they know and leaving
the freshmen behind.
“They’re
actually
involving the freshmen
with the drills.”
And at the same time,
Cole is building a rela-
tionship with the team.
“I want to build better
relationships than what
my coach my senior year
did,” she said. “He came
in the first day of prac-
tice and said ‘This is
how it is, this is what I’m
going to do.’ I want to
make it fun, still. That’s
my main goal this year.”
She stresses this
because she believes
having fun is what leads
to winning games. Not
that Cole is promising a
spot in the playoffs.
“That’s not my philos-
ophy,” she said. “Winning
is important, but right
now the girls need to
have fun in the game.
We’re still going to focus
on winning, but having
fun is the main mind-
set.”
And Cole doesn’t
think that will be a diffi-
cult goal to accomplish.
“I care about the girls.
And with these girls, it’s
hard not to. We got girls
dancing in practice.
They make it fun. To
start that way on the first
practice is a good sign.
“They’re making it fun
for themselves, and I’m
going to build on that.”
Siuslaw will kick off
the season Dec. 4, when
it hosts Newport in a
non-league
opener
beginning at 5:45 p.m.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MAPLETON HIGH SCHOOL
FOOTBALL TEAM
THE SAILORS FINISHED THIRD IN SPECIAL DISTRICT 1-SOUTH AND ADVANCED
INTO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE OSAA 1A STATE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
This message sponsored by these businesses:
True Value Hardware Store
Saw Shop Florence
Old School Furniture
Laurel Bay Gardens
Hunt Family Dentistry
Shervin’s Tire and Automotive
Florence Heating and Sheet Metal, Inc
Cross Road Assembly of God
Jawsome kids resale
West Coast AutoBody
Les Schwab Tire Center
Swanson’s Pest Control
River Cities Taxi
Hoberg’s Complete Auto Repair
Oregon Pacifi c Bank
Florence Police Department
Siuslaw News
Write a Letter to the Editor today. Email Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com