Stephens: Colorado's worst HS basketball team is uniquely great

AURORA — Everyone was talking but no one knew what to say.

William Smith High School’s girls basketball team had never been here before — leading at halftime on the road against a team it lost to by 43 points a month earlier. There was a sense of pleasant confusion as the eight players rested in the corner of the locker room, some leaning against the dry erase board, others square on their backs across the slab floor.

One took a call on her cell.

Excited.

Exhausted.

Most of what initially echoed from their mouths was a series of incoherent “woos” and “oh my gods,” as much in disbelief of their 15-14 advantage as Aurora West College Preparatory was of its one-point deficit.

“Did you see how mad their big girl got?” one player asked. “She started crying.”

“How about our ball control, y’all? We’re doing a good job dribbling out there,” another said.

It wasn’t only a halftime lead that was uncharted territory for the Eagles. So was the 2-0 edge they held less than a minute into the game.

They'd never held a lead before.

William Smith’s girls basketball team wouldn't impress the Fresh Prince. Not the on-court product. It wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest select teams of fifth- and sixth-graders would be able to beat these young ladies on most nights. Tuesday wasn’t one of those nights.

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The Eagles entered the game 0-7. They lost their first game of the season 65-0 to KIPP Denver Collegiate and the next 113-6 to Falcon. Saturday, Far Northeast beat them 76-6. They average 12 points per game (not counting one forfeit) and allow 64.3 points per game. They own the worst average margin of defeat of any team in Colorado.

And here they were, up by one, without a clue of what to do next until coach Zina Parrish took control of the room. Instead of formulating halftime adjustments, she took her team’s input about how to attack the next two quarters.

“You see how many mistakes they’re making when we press them? We need to keep up our pressure,” point guard Eileen Diaz suggested.

“Exactly,” Parrish said. “Last time we played them, we gave that No. 12 all day and she just kept driving and scoring on us. Good observation. What else?”

“We need to make sure we make good passes and stop giving the ball back to them,” freshman Talisha Barton said.

“Yes,” Parrish responded. “Remember what we talked about? Ball control, ball control, ball control.”

It wasn’t the most traditional halftime speech, but neither is anything else William Smith does. And even being aware of their errors was a far cry from how they practiced 24 hours prior.

***

William Smith doesn’t have a gym. The girls basketball team, in its second year of existence, practices at a nearby middle school. Monday’s practice was supposed to start at 4:45 p.m. It didn’t get underway until 5:30; the last two players sneaked in at 6.

Getting players to show up to practice has been a problem. Almost as much as fielding a team was for Parrish. To recruit, she attended William Smith’s back-to-school night to ask kids if they were interested in playing basketball. Experience wasn't a prerequisite.

Five of her eight players are freshmen, none of whom had ever picked up a basketball until a few months ago. The guards shoot with a chest-pass and pass with a windup. They dribble intently, eyes locked forward, trying their hardest not to look at the ball. A pivot foot isn’t a concept they’ve begun to grasp.

It cannot be understated: These girls are new to basketball.

They also play harder than any state championship contender for no other reason than they've been given the chance to play on the same stage.

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William Smith isn’t most high schools. It wasn’t until the late 2000s that it bucked the nickname “Last Chance High,” an alternative school that accepted the rejects and dropouts from Aurora and Denver public schools. That changed thanks to a plan by principal David Roll to be proactive with the school’s education, switching to a model he calls (and admits sounds cliché) 21st-century learning, helping prepare students for the modern workforce.

For example, in physical science, students use cocoa beans to create chocolate and then apply a social studies lesson by learning how to sell and ship the candy in a free-trade market. The approach has worked, he said, with students now graduating at a rate of 95 percent. Beginning in 2006, the school has held an annual lottery with applications from eighth-grade students who primarily live in the APS boundaries.

“The things about going to William Smith that’s different from most schools is that one of the most important things about our school is bonding, helping each other grow as people. Basketball has really helped me do that,” junior forward Akira Shazier said. “That’s why I want to go to college for teaching. Going to William Smith, we have teachers that look out for us and have our backs, and I want to be that kind of person, too.”

Parrish had an interesting analogy for the students at the school.

"The thing about William Smith students is that they’re so talented, they have these gifts, but they weren’t able to show them before,” said Parrish, whose daughter is a graduate of William Smith. “It reminds me of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys. Everybody neglected them, but Santa went and got them and put them in a home.

“That’s what these girls are. They’re misfit toys, but their gifts are amazing. Technology, art, their minds are extraordinary but their thought patterns are completely different than most people.”

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Athletics isn’t usually one of the natural gifts William Smith students are blessed with. Roll tells students who apply that if sports are a high priority of theirs, they might want to consider staying at Rangeview, Gateway or whatever comprehensive high school into which they’re zoned. The same goes for orchestra or band. William Smith, a school of nearly 300 kids nestled on Pickens Technical College’s campus, doesn’t have the infrastructure to support it. But if there is enough interest to start a sports team, then the school will accommodate, because its strength is listening to the desires of its student body.

That’s how the boys basketball team was formed in 2007, William Smith’s first-ever athletic program, followed by volleyball, boys soccer and girls basketball. If a student wants to play sports at William Smith, they can. There is no sub-varsity; the Eagles don’t cut. They want to eventually be good, but there’s an understanding that there’s a steep learning curve for inexperienced athletes going up against college prospects.

Still, they are given an opportunity to do something they couldn’t at any other school, and they do their best to capitalize.

“A lot of these girls come from troubled backgrounds. They have problems at home. We might not win a lot, but that’s OK. I’m trying to teach these girls life lessons right now,” Parrish said. “It’s about teamwork. These girls get excited when they get two points; they get excited when they get passed to. They’re always learning from what they do, and sometimes they have bad days and get frustrated. Some days, they might not know offense, they might not know defense, but they’re getting better, and when you see them bond, it warms your heart.”

***

Roll and assistant principal Kristin Wiedmaier dream of the day when William Smith is contending for a Class 3A state championship.

That won’t happen this year.

The 15-14 lead the Eagles held at halftime Tuesday became a 20-16 deficit after three quarters and then a 30-20 defeat. These girls were pushed, repeatedly elbowed in the chest and were called names.

Welcome to high school basketball. It’s a physical and sometimes nasty game.

It became clear early in the fourth quarter, when Aurora West allowed its best player to come off the bench, which way the outcome would fall. Even then there was no lack of fight. The Eagles dove for loose balls, ran set plays and applied pressure on defense. And when an Aurora West player fell to the ground, William Smith players would stop the fast break to reach out a hand and pick her up.

“Perhaps that’s going too far with the sportsmanship we preach here at William Smith,” Roll joked.

These girls want to win. Maybe that will happen this season. If it doesn’t, they’ll be OK with that. They’re happy to be playing basketball and watching themselves grow as players and people.

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A 10-point loss? That’s reason to celebrate. Shazier had 11 points and 16 rebounds, the first double-double in school history.

No backcourt violations. Only 15 turnovers. Dribbling without looking at the ball. All things they worked on at practice the night before. When Aurora West players hit contested jumpers, Eagles players’ eyes grew wide in disbelief before telling their opponents, “Nice shot.”

This team is somehow showcasing blissful basketball that’s usually saved for the youth level. It has a will to win tempered by a desire to grow as individuals. Sportsmanship. Perseverance. Teamwork. All those things kids are usually taught playing on 8-foot baskets at the YMCA, well before egos are developed.

After they were shut out in the season opener, Parrish said her players wouldn’t stop crying. There were no tears after the 10-point loss. Instead, eight teammates were all smiles in the locker room after the game. They didn’t have a single fan in the stands, no parent to cheer them on. What they had was each other, and they were proud of what they’d accomplished.

Colorado's worst high school basketball team is the epitome of what sports are supposed to be.

For insight and analysis on athletics around Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports editor Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.

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William Smith at a glance

• Location: Aurora
• Enrollment: Approximately 300
• Grades: 9-12
• Graduation rate: 95 percent
• Notable: Formerly known as "Last Chance High" in Aurora. ... 53 percent of students are on free or reduced-price lunches. ... Uses an "expeditionary" learning environment that applies skills to the modern workforce. ... Added boys basketball as its first athletic program in 2007-08. ... Girls basketball was added in 2015-16. ... Girls basketball team is 0-8 and has suffered 65-0 and 113-6 defeats this season. ... Five of its eight girls basketball players are freshmen playing the sport for the first time this year.