Girls 4A tournament: Redmond guards have on-court chemistry

Losing is not a word associated with the Redmond girls basketball team in any form. They have not lost this season. They do not plan to lose any time soon.

But on a Thursday afternoon, as her team prepares for a game against Lake Washington, Ashley Graham feels lost.

Graham loves basketball. She is her happiest with the round leather at her fingertips as she runs down the court as carefree as a child.

But something is missing.

Ten minutes into practice, in the middle of a drill, Graham wanders from the line she's in and stands over a teammate along the sideline.

Jamie Edwards lies on her back with a purple, swollen ankle on a chair. Her brown curls are her only pillow against the cold, hardwood floor.

"Does it hurt, James?"

Graham doesn't really have to ask. When you've played this long together, you know.

For six years, since their days on Redmond Select, Edwards and Graham have shared the backcourt. The 5-foot-7 guards are the leading scorers of a Redmond team that is 23-0 and considered one of the favorites in the Class 4A state tournament this week. Edwards is expected to rejoin Graham in the backcourt tonight at 8:30 when the Mustangs open against Puyallup.

Edwards and Graham play with an on-court chemistry forged by years of blood, sweat and tears shared in the gym. And when that link is broken because one can't play, both can't help but feel lost.

Natural selection

The first time Graham and Edwards met was in third grade.

"I remember seeing her at a camp," Edwards recalls. "She always had her long braid. It wasn't intimidating, but I knew she was good."

The girls naturally gravitated toward each other. They wore NBA jerseys and shared an obsession for Michael Jordan. They dribbled and shot the ball on a higher level than other girls their age. There was on-court chemistry from the beginning.

After some 200 games together over a seven-year span, a bond developed that is difficult for either player to put into words.

"It's telepathy," Redmond Coach Pat Bangasser said. "I can see it on and off the court. Sometimes when I'm talking to the team, I see them make eye contact like they've connected, like they know what to do. They find each other out there."

Two years ago, as sophomores, that bond was just developing. They had played together on a select team, but attended different junior high schools, Graham at Redmond and Edwards at Evergreen.

On a road trip that sophomore year, Graham and Edwards roomed together and became more than teammates. They became friends. As they struggled that season, their bond strengthened. "We both had rough times," Graham said. "I wasn't playing a lot, and she wasn't always playing well."

With nothing to lose, Graham and Edwards helped Redmond steal one of the biggest wins in state-tournament history. In the semifinal game, they broke No. 1 Kennewick's state-record 56-game winning streak.

Redmond lost in the finals, but got a taste of what the Graham and Edwards hope to accomplish this season.

"It all came together when we got second at state," Graham said. "I think it made me realize this was something special."

Redmond's Mini-Me

Like her Redmond hero before her, Graham is passing down the legacy of left-handed point guards. Sophomore Mackenzie Flynn is a spitting image of Graham, in stature and in skills.

Graham grew up watching Lynne Peeples, a guard for the Mustangs from 1995 to '97.

"We both had the same shoes, we were both left-handed, we both had long hair," Graham said. "I loved watching her play."

And now there is Flynn.

"It was weird when Mackenzie came up," Graham said. "She really reminded me of myself."

Flynn has shown amazing poise as a sophomore, and she had a breakout game against Lake Washington in the Sea-King District tournament. Starting in place of the injured Edwards, she made five three-pointers and scored 17 in the first quarter and finished with 24 points.

Despite the similar styles — not to mention the green sweat bands both wear above their right elbows — neither sees it as a star-understudy relationship.

"I don't see it as me teaching her because there are so many times where I'm like, 'Wow, Mackenzie how do you do that?' " Graham said. "Sometimes I feel like she is teaching me. We're both like that. We both want to learn as much as we can from the other."

Flynn stands in a hallway outside Reiger Gym nervously twirling the strings on her hooded sweatshirt.

"They give me so much confidence every day," Flynn says of her mentors. "They have made me feel like I have been here forever."

"Little eyes are watching"

Graham and Edward's influence extends to the entire Redmond community.

Dennis Edwards was the coordinator for Redmond Select girls basketball for seven years. He still coaches a team of sixth-graders, and has been assisting Bangasser at the high school for the first time this season. He knows firsthand the effect high-school girls have on the youngsters. He has seen his daughter — and Graham — as both idols and idolizers.

Players from the high school, most often Graham and Edwards, mentor his sixth graders. A basketball factory has been built, pumping out the next hero to wear the green and gold. Peeples, Graham, Edwards and Flynn.

Bangasser hands out a poem titled "Little Eyes Are Watching You" to his team.

"We have an understanding that when you play, everything you do is being watched," the fourth-year coach said. "Whether it's what you're doing during the Star Spangled Banner, or whether you're goofing around or being serious, or if you're being unselfish, to how you are with the officials. Little eyes are watching you."

They are already there on Friday nights, with green and gold beads, their Redmond Select jerseys and glitter on their face. They all wear ponytails like their favorite players.

Heather Ashley Corbett has been proclaimed "Ashley Graham's biggest fan."

"She's obsessed with her!" shouts teammate Sarah Quigley. Quigley isn't far behind, pointing out that "Ashley doesn't like steak."

Corbett brags that her middle name is "Ashley." She wears the same shoes, a wristband, and a rubber band on her shoe like Graham. She has roughly 15 pictures of the guard on her wall.

Unlike most kid's heroes, however, Graham and Edwards are involved in their lives. They teach them how to dribble and how to keep it fun.

"The first time I met her it was scary," Corbett said of Graham. "But she was nice. I look up to her and want to be like her."

Mustang's Super Fans

His name is Mike Wagner. He is the Mustangs quarterback in the fall, a star pitcher in the spring who earned a baseball scholarship to Vanderbilt. He is an all-American guy with a great smile.

He is also Edwards' boyfriend.

The Super Fans are there, home and away for the past two years, dressed and ready to cheer. They pick a theme, sometimes camouflage, sometimes business suits, often retro. On this night, a Sea-King District game against Juanita, it is Value Village night.

Wagner is there before the girls take the court for warmups. He's wearing gold shoes, fitted yellow pants, a retro Redmond Select jersey, green, white and yellow headband, and green and gold beads.

Wagner had his eye on Edwards for a long time. They were friends from sixth grade until ninth, but Wagner was always smitten. On Valentine's Day of their ninth-grade year, he made his move. He sneaked into her house when she was at basketball practice and decorated her room.

Three years later, they are the Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff of Redmond. They won't predict what the future holds. They just enjoy the things they share now, watching movies and eating chicken fajitas at Jose's in Woodinville.

"We both play sports and we're both very competitive, so it's kind of like a support system," Edwards said. "He tells me things I can work on and things I'm doing well."

Wagner would know, having seen Edwards and Graham play for years.

"They both share the same passion," Wagner said. "They're both just great people and are a lot of fun, but they're also very focused."

Chasing Ashley

While Edwards knows who her biggest fan is, Graham's could be waiting around the next corner. Her fame is becoming the stuff of local legends. Graham once came out of the bathroom before a home game to find a opposing fan waiting with a poster for her to sign. A Juanita fan asked her to sign a picture that had been in the paper the day before. It was professionally blown up with her name on it.

It may be her skills that draw the fans, but her magnetism keeps them coming back. She lights up a gym, her love for the game radiating through a contagious smile.

When she's not playing with her Redmond teammates, Graham plays basketball with the guys. She plays on weekends, after practice, and sometimes after games.

"It really is my life," Graham said. "And I don't ever see myself giving it up. When I can't play, that's going to be tough on me."

Bangasser doesn't object to Graham's non-stop, co-ed hoops.

"Ashley's been doing it for years. She can do it because she plays without fear. Often when you play with people bigger than you and stronger than you, you play fearful."

Edwards is different. "She plays all the time. I get extra practice in, but I'm not the eat-breathe-live-basketball kind of person she is," Edwards said.

The end is near

A week after spraining her ankle, an injury that cost her three games, Edwards emerges from the locker room dressed for practice. She darts past Flynn, and shrieks.

"Look! I'm running!"

With the days of her high-school career numbered, she cherishes the smallest victories. Still, a much bigger victory looms this week at the state tournament and she wants to be a part of it.

"People have been telling me 'Ashley really misses you out there,' " said Edwards, who is expected to play this week. "We work so well together that if one of us is gone you can tell. The team still works just as hard, but with the two of us, there's a difference."

There will be a noticeable difference at Redmond next season. The two All-KingCo first-team guards will be gone. Graham, the league's MVP, will be playing for Santa Clara. Edwards is still deciding where to play.

"They love the game, they love to play and they genuinely like their teammates," Bangasser said. "You couldn't find a person that doesn't like them. I hope my daughters emulate their love for sport and their balance in life.

"They've been together a long time. They've been to the tournament, they went to the championship game and it's not like they sat and watched. They played, and they want to get back again. And this time, win."

Together.