Graduation took a toll on West Linn’s 6A semifinal girls basketball team, which lost two three-year starters in guards Lexie Pritchard and Kennedi Byram, who have gone on to college careers at Santa Clara and Point Loma, respectively.
But it’s who’s back for the Lions that has them excited about their chances this season.
Sophomore post Aaronette Vonleh, the sister of former Portland Trail Blazer Noah Vonleh, has returned after a freshman season in which she averaged team highs of 14.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks.
The 6-foot-4 Vonleh moved to the Portland area with her mother and grandmother to be closer to Noah, so when he got traded to Chicago in February, her future at West Linn seemed uncertain.
But she is back for her sophomore season and is dominant. In her first two games, she has collected 47 points and 20 rebounds in leading eighth-ranked West Linn past Roosevelt 58-42 and Liberty 79-60.
“She’s amazing. I don’t think there’s a match to her in the state,” said Brooke Cates, who has taken over as the team’s coach after assisting Jared Curtiss last season. “She’s grown a ton from last year. She’s a player, she’s a force, and she doesn’t even know it.”
Cates said “it’s so fun to see” Vonleh maturing as a player.
“She’s grown into herself a little bit more,” Cates said. “A little more body control. She’s always had great hands and great moves around the basket. She’s better around the basket, and she just plays full games. She’s practicing a lot harder. If she ever realizes what she is, she’ll be something.”
Vonleh carves out deep position with her size and strength. She has soft hands to catch entry passes, and a deft touch around the hoop. Once she gets the ball inside, “there’s nothing anybody can do,” according to the coach.
“You don’t always get to coach a player that is at this caliber. She’s really special,” Cates said.
Vonleh is the only returning starter from a team that finished 25-4. Not only did the Lions lose Pritchard and Byram, but two other starters in guard Brooke Landis, who is on the team at Notre Dame de Namur University (Calif.), and forward Makayla Long, a sophomore who is focusing on volleyball.
The team’s starting lineup has four sophomores in Vonleh, point guard Cami Fulcher, shooting guard Audrey Roden and small forward Payton Shelstad. Junior forward Elisabeth Dombrow is the other starter.
“We are really, really, really young,” Cates said. “If we can mature, if we can grow up, we can be in the mix at the end. Plus it’s a new coach, new system, new everything. So that’s a lot to learn. So we could be a little shaky right off the bat here.”
West Linn will get its first big test against a top-10 team when it faces No. 3 Beaverton in its first game at the PIL Holiday Classic on Dec. 28.
