News / Sports / Prep Sports

State memories still storm back to Skyview girls basketball team

By Paul Valencia, Columbian High School Sports Reporter

Published: February 26, 2015, 12:00am

Skyview's Genevieve Lo, 11, drives to the basket against Emerald Ridge in the 4A girls bi-district playoff game at Skyview High School, Thursday, February 13, 2014. (Steven Lane/The Columbian)

This week, we celebrate the teams from Clark County that have made it to state basketball tournaments.

This is a three-day series, during which we’ll have small stories on all nine teams that are still playing this weekend.

By Saturday night, we will know who is going to the quarterfinals, which teams will be advancing to the final destinations.

For 4A and 3A teams, that would be the Tacoma Dome.

For 1A teams, that would be mean a trip to the Yakima SunDome.

Wednesday, we featured the three boys teams from the 4A and 3A ranks: Camas, Columbia River, and Union.

Thursday, we feature the three girls teams from the 4A and 3A ranks: Camas, Prairie, and Skyview.

Friday, we go small-school, with three stories from the 1A ranks: King’s Way Christian boys, La Center boys, and La Center girls.

The Columbian plans to send reporters to all nine games Friday and Saturday.

There is a picture of the 2012 Skyview girls basketball team at the school’s gym, celebrating that squad’s state championship.

Genevieve Lo, now a senior, likes looking at the sign.

“I always feel like we’re that team up there,” Lo said. “No one expected those girls to get as far as they did.”

The Skyview Storm are back in the state tournament, even if no one knows who they are.

“The Division I scholarship girls? They’re all gone,” Lo said.

The drive and determination that makes up Skyview basketball remains.

Hannahjoy Adams, another senior, said the underdog status was motivation.

“It made us realize we had to work to prove something rather than just have the skills,” Adams said. “It made us want to work more.”

The Storm did see their long league winning streak come to an end this season, but they responded by claiming a share of the 4A Greater St. Helens League title and winning the district championship. Along the way, the Storm beat Camas, the other team going to state from the 4A GSHL, three times.

Next up, the Storm face Kentlake at 6 p.m. Saturday at W.F. West High School in Chehalis in the first round of the 4A state tournament. The winner will advance to the Tacoma Dome.

“As a coaching staff, we did not know what to expect,” Skyview coach Jennifer Buscher said. “Every game, we’ve had a different kid step up. That says a lot about who we are.”

In fact, Skyview does not have a scorer averaging in double figures. But all of the players are committed to defense.

“I feel like each year the new leaders have learned from the old leaders,” Lo said. “We play as a team. We work as a team. We never give up. And we always push ourselves to the breaking point in practice.”

Buscher credits Lo and Adams for setting the tone. Adams said they embraced that role.

“We both lead by example, give 100 percent all the time,” Adams said. “And I think that pushes the team into working just as hard.”