Photo Courtesy of Karen Blair<br><br>Ballard players are spending the summer together as a team. From left to right back row are: Yordanos Kasahun, Amanda Bryan, Kayla Williams, Rebecca Miles, Alexandria Lawrence. Front row: Madeleine Maguire & Evangeline Spracklin (not pictured: Molly Magee & Leslie Ellingsen)
While some students are taking the summer off, the Ballard Beaver girl's basketball team was busy earning a championship trophy.
They won the Shoreline Parks and Recreation Summer League title on June 29 with a 62-43 win over Seattle Prep.
Ballard finished with a 4 and 2 league record playing against Shorecrest, Shorewood, Bothell, Nathan Hale, King's and Seattle Prep. With two wins in the playoffs, Ballard was 6 and 2 overall.
During the Seattle Prep playoff game, Ballard was led by Assistant Coach Bryan Howisey. Head Coach Karen Blair was supervising the Ballard Youth Basketball Camp.
The Beavers have been fielding a team of seven players for leagues and weekend tournaments in White River, Oregon City, Western Washington University and the Mid-Night Madness Tournament in Seattle.
The team has played over 30 games and have the Lake Washington Tournament on August 11 to 13 left on their schedule. Some Ballard players will be competing on AAU teams during the month of August.
Howisey said he was hoping to see the Beavers improve their game during the summer and said they are getting better.
"We give the girls an opportunity to work on things. We're starting to build team chemistry and all that good stuff. I'm really excited," said Howisey.
Summer basketball gives coaches time to work on each girl's skills. The Ballard coaches spend time with players one on one. "Summer is a lot more about working on an individual's skills," said Blair.
During winter season training camp, the team concentrates on team offense and defense to get ready for the KingCo schedule.
Ballard made the KingCo playoffs and pulled off an upset over highly regarded Redmond.
They were eliminated by Roosevelt in the Central/Southwest 4A Bi-District Tournament.
Over 40 kids, most of them from the Ballard area attended the Ballard Youth Basketball Camp on June 26 to 29.
The camp was for boys and girls in the fourth to ninth grades. A separate camp was for girls only fifth through ninth grades. The camp stressed basketball fundamentals.
"It went good, we had a good camp," said Blair.
