MOSES LAKE — Big Bend Community College women’s basketball coach Preston Wilks is optimistic this year. 

“We’re very hopeful,” Wilks said. “I’ve been doing this a while, and usually the key to a great season is the sophomore class coming back. The sophomores are like seniors relative to a four-year school, and the freshmen are kind of like … freshmen, you know? So having good sophomores means all the difference at this level, and we’ve got a great group that came back.” 

One of those returning sophomores is Ryley Layton, a 6-foot forward from Blackfoot, Idaho. Layton was named to the all-defensive team last year and in regional play averaged a double-double, Wilks said.  

Layton was also rosy about her squad’s prospects this season. 

“I think that we have a lot of potential,” she said. “Last year we struggled a little bit. This year … we're all super good friends and it's just fun. We have fun at practice, we have fun at games, and we have all that potential.” 

The Vikings are living up to that potential so far. They trounced Gonzaga University Club 86-38 on Nov. 15, and Green River Community College 84-59 the next day. On Nov. 19, they narrowly lost out to Spokane Falls Community College, 64-66. 

“What we're trying to do this year is just play at a faster pace than we have in the last few years,” Wilks said. “Now you can say I'm going to do that every year, but you’ve got to be able to have the athleticism to play at a higher pace. You know, you can ask a turtle to go as fast as you want that turtle to go, but a turtle can only do so much. We're trying to play more up-tempo. We're trying to be a little bit more trapping on our defense, quick to help each other rotate, see if we can disrupt some teams with our athleticism.” 

“I would say we really want to focus on defense this year,” Layton said. “That's the main thing that we need to work on is our defense, working out all the kinks and quirks in our defense. Once we get our defense going, our offense flows a lot smoother.” 

Every basketball team shoots for solidarity, but Wilks said this year’s team goes above and beyond. 

“This group seems to just really buy into the whole team concept,” he said. “Some years you preach it and preach it and preach it, but it just doesn't work. And so far, these girls are super supportive of each other. When they're not in the game and they're out on the bench, it's one of the more vocal benches that we've ever had in terms of their cheering and standing up and whooping and hollering for each other. A couple of times this weekend, the referees had to ask our players on the bench to sit down … And that's an early indicator that, man, these guys really are supporting each other and really buying into the whole team thing.” 

“We’ve got to be as one,” Layton said. “When we don't get along, it shows on the court.” 

The team has four returning sophomores and seven freshmen, Layton said, which means the veteran players have a certain responsibility. 

“We are freshman-heavy this year,” she said. “So one thing that we need to work on is getting that experience and us four sophomores stepping up and being leaders and helping the freshmen along.” 

“This is probably one year where we honestly can say we think every single freshman can help us,” Wilks said. “Sometimes they’re very talented, but probably going to not help us much this year, maybe their second year. But that's not the case with any of our freshmen. We really feel like all of them are going to help. What that means is our practices are more competitive. When we substitute in games, whoever's coming in is just right there with the first group that's coming out.” 

    Sophomore Ryley Layton lays the ball in for a basket in a game last year.