Quick first step

Nick Christensen

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005 | 10:09 a.m.

Clint Conover didn't know what to expect when he came to Las Vegas last summer to start up a girls' basketball program at Canyon Springs.

A 15-year veteran of the coaching ranks, most recently from Houston's Westside High School, Conover knew he'd have no seniors and figured he'd have to work on fundamentals with the team.

But at that point, he still didn't have a team. Canyon Springs was still under construction in North Las Vegas, and the players feeding his team would be coming from literally all across the valley.

One of those players was Valerie Lee, who last year was a freshman at Valley High.

"Over the summer, I was trying to figure out whether I wanted to make a new start or stay at Valley," Lee said. "When we got more people, I got more comfortable; I was thinking we'd have a pretty good season."

Pretty good is relative at Canyon Springs. Lee is the only girl on the Pioneers' squad who played varsity ball last year, occasionally subbing for the Vikings as a freshman.

So as expected, Conover did spend the first part of the year teaching fundamentals -- mostly because a good chunk of his team simply hadn't played organized basketball before. Five of the nine girls on the varsity roster are ninth graders.

Brittany Smith, one of those freshmen, came from Cadwallader Middle School, nearly 10 miles away from Canyon Springs.

"The only hard part was, a couple girls didn't get it," Smith said. "We had to go as a team -- some got it, some didn't. We got frustrated at times -- but it's all for the good."

The start of the year wasn't much easier for the young group of players. They beat two other first-year schools -- 4A Del Sol and 1A Beaver Dam (Ariz.), but lost to first-year Spring Valley, 1A powerhouse Pahranagat Valley and a struggling 3A Virgin Valley team.

Slowly, the Canyon Springs players took the pressure off themselves as they gradually made progress in Northeast Division play. With so much youth, the focus shifted to improvement for future seasons.

"We don't like to make excuses; if you're younger you still have time to be better than the people that are older than you," Lee said. "Two years fly by fast, before you know it I'll be a senior."

Conover said the improvement this year has been dramatic, capped by a game against seventh-ranked Las Vegas High last month. The Wildcats may have beaten Canyon Springs by 25, but his team was able to stay with Vegas through the entire game.

"We're improving each day and getting better," Conover said. "I'm looking forward to the rest of this season and I feel like we'll be better next year."

Lee said that game was the most fun she'd had at her new school.

"We came out and everybody was doubting us, saying we were going to get blown out," she said. "We came out with intensity, determination; we gave them a good game."

Canyon Springs was eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday, when its loss to Eldorado dropped its record to 7-13 (2-8) but with other Northeast teams relying heavily on senior talent, the road ahead looks good for the Pioneers.

"I think next year we're going to be better," forward Rayshwanda McCullah said. "When we're seniors, we'll have played for awhile together. We have a lot of good players, we'll be good from next year."