Climbing to new heights

Gabi Munro admits having modest expectations for her senior year.

"My goal was to win at least four games this season. That was my goal," Munro said. "Now, since we've made it this far as a team, we haven't won this many games in a while, but now my goal is to go further as a team and make it to the playoffs and to work together and just achieve that big goal."

On Saturday afternoon, Munro scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Shelton High School girls basketball team to a 54-38 win over Kingston in a nonconference game at Terry Gregg Court. The win is the Climbers' eighth victory after the team went winless last year and started this season 0-4 before going 8-5 over its last 13 games.

"I think the biggest difference this season as a team is having a new coach who is stricter and more responsible for these girls. Having a coach there that's putting in the work for us and making us successful as a team is bringing so much to us and it really is emotional to say it," Munro said. "I'm so sad this is my last year playing and improving and just learning all the steps on the way how to get better as a player. It feels like the team is coming together and actually playing as a family rather than against each other."

Munro is one of five seniors on the Highclimbers' roster, joining returners Dydemus "Sister" Cordova and Danyka Squire, and newcomers Olivia Henry and Raquel Ruiz.

With three games left in the regular season, Munro and the Climbers are tied for fourth in Evergreen Conference action with Rochester and host the Warriors at 7 p.m. tonight at Terry Gregg Court. The winner will take a one-game lead, with just two games remaining, in the race for the league's final postseason spot.

"With COVID, and all of the chaos that happened during basketball season, sometimes it's been tough. Especially during bad weather, with the snow that canceled our games, and we have to cancel and reschedule," Munro said. "I think it's, it's for the girls, who have been here, it has put a lot on us, and we've all learned together how to fight through it. And I think that made us stronger. And more ... more family.

"Nobody wants to watch you if you're gonna look all mad and grumpy on the court. And that's like one of the biggest things that everyone needs to learn."

Shelton won just two games during its COVID-delayed 2020-21 season, which took place during five weeks from May 10 to June 7, 2021. The Climbers were 0-16 last year (2021-22) with no game being decided by fewer than 12 points.

The signs that this year would be different began early.

Shelton battled perennial power Tumwater to double overtime before falling 57-51 in the second game of the season and led Black Hills for most of its fourth game before losing by seven Dec. 13.

The Climbers broke through, snapping a 22-game losing streak, three days later with a 37-24 road win at Olympic. Shelton beat River Ridge the next week and then won two of three games at the Lady Trapper Invitational at Heritage High School in Vancouver.

"I think what makes us successful on the road is just all of us coming together and actually playing," Munro said. "This is a last season ... for the seniors. And we really just wanted to put that work in this year, to be able to win and play as a team together; to play as a family and the Vancouver trip that brought everybody on that varsity team together and bonded, which made us stronger on the court."

After tonight's contest with Rochester, Shelton travels to Aberdeen next week and then returns to Gregg Court to host Centralia on Feb. 3. If the Climbers claim the Evergreen's No. 4 seed, they'll also host the fifth-place team from the Greater St. Helen's League at 7 p.m. Feb. 6 in 2A District IV pigtail game.

"I see my legacy as people looking up to me and seeing a good role model," Munro said. "I try and encourage all the girls, especially the post girls who are down low, that they can do it. I know it gets super hard at times, but they just got to push through it. I'm hoping to leave that mark on the team, like 'keep your attitude up and don't be mad.' It's a game. Play as a family and don't play against each other."