GIRLS BASKETBALL
A transition year on the court for the Lady Gulls
By Gary Henley
Seaside Signal
Seaside girls basketball
coach Mike Hawes doesn’t
pull any punches when talking
about the upcoming season:
“We’re going to be thin, no
doubt about it.”
Seaside’s best player over
the last four years, their all-ev-
erything, is well on her way to
a promising hoops career at
Fresno State University. Mad-
di Utti has graduated, but life
goes on for the Lady Gulls.
“Obviously this is the tran-
sition year without Maddi, and
there’s no way that we can
replicate all the things that she
did,” Hawes said. “But at the
same time, these girls want to
establish their own identity.”
And establishing any kind
of identity in Cowapa League
girls basketball is never easy.
The Cowapa
“Banks will be good, As-
toria should be better, and you
never know what Valley Cath-
olic might have,” said Hawes,
while it’s hard to imagine
the Gulls not being a part of
the state tournament, which
they’ve played in every year
for the past four years.
Over that same time span,
Seaside has a league record of
35-5.
“I’m sure there’s some
teams out there that would
happily like to get back at us,”
Hawes said.
The Lady Gulls
Utti graduated from Sea-
side as the all-time team lead-
er in career points (1,794),
assists (504) and steals (503),
and season record-holder in all
three.
She will be impossible to
replace, and the Gulls can’t
even begin to try.
“We still have some kids
who can shoot the ball, and
we’ve got some quickness,”
Seaside Girls
Basketball
COACH: Mike Hawes,
second year
2016-17: 20-5 (9-1
league)
PLAYOFFS: Third place
at state. Defeated
Cascade and
Marshfield, lost to
Sutherlin.
ALL-LEAGUE LOSSES:
Maddi Utti (MVP),
Sydney Villegas
ALL-LEAGUE RETURNERS:
Bryre Babbitt, Sr.; Jetta
Ideue, Sr.
Hawes said. “We’ll just try
to play to our strengths. The
idea is to have some different
people who can handle the
ball. Whoever gets the dang
rebound — which will be a
challenge, because we’re real-
ly short — we can spread and
go, and hopefully fire away.
I’m as curious as anyone to
see how we’ll do.”
There’s still plenty of var-
sity experience on the roster,
with seniors Bryre Babbitt,
Jetta Ideue and Anesha Smart;
and juniors Annaka Garhofer
and Emy Kiser.
Junior Gretchen Hoekstre
is dealing with a shoulder in-
jury and hopes to be back by
January, while junior Trinity
Turner suffered a recent knee
injury, and may be lost for the
season, Hawes said.
Making the jump to varsity
will be juniors Jessica Angu-
lo-Joli, Alyssa Goin and Katie
Zagata. Sophomore Ruby Da-
vis rounds out the roster.
“We’ve had some injuries
and sickness, so we were run-
ning about 20 players,” Hawes
said after two weeks. “The
numbers have been challeng-
ing. It’s leaving us pretty thin.”
JEFF TER HAR/FOR EO MEDIA GROUP
EO MEDIA GROUP
TOP, Seaside’s Emy Kiser, Gretchen Hoekstre and Maddi Utti
play tight defense on Molalla. While Utti has graduated,
Kiser and Hoekstre look to be team leaders. ABOVE, Cascade
Cougars’ Kristin Cade, left, and Seaside Seagulls’ Emy Kiser
battle for the ball as Seaside faces off against Cascade in the
4A State Quarterfinals at Forest Grove High School in Forest
Grove. Seaside defeated Cascade 47-42. RIGHT, Senior Jetta
Ideue will be one of several Seaside players looking to score.
EO MEDIA GROUP
Seaside Signal/Cannon Beach Gazette • 7