The fact that the COUPEVILLE girls team is here is a testament to both first-year coach GEOFF KAPPES and to a bunch of girls who didn't quit on themselves after losing their season opener to South Whidbey by -- get this -- 71 points.

"We were all kind of like, oh my goodness, why are we even playing?" recalls team captain BETH MOUW of that 90-19 loss. "It was a big downer."

Things didn't get much better after that; by mid-January, the Wolves were 3-11. But the players made a commitment to Kappes to be the hardest-working team in the state. "We just ran like crazy," Mouw says.

It paid off. Coupeville's 11-11 record may not be impressive, but the Wolves won eight of their past nine regular-season games and earned a state berth. And Mouw got to pitch some flak to her father.

When the Wolves were struggling, she says, "My dad told me, 'Well, I guess you've been to state for the last time.' After we won our last game that guaranteed our trip to state, I said, 'Dad, you better eat those words.' Nobody expected it. But we did it."

OK, so which JORDAN WILLIAMS do you like? The one at CASCADE CHRISTIAN is a guard who scores at a 20.6 clip and is also among team leaders in rebounds (5.0), assists (2.6) and blocks (1.6). The one at ILWACO, in addition to racking up 13.4 blocks and 3.0 assists per game, is also his team's best heads-up defender.

The girls tournament rosters includes a hefty list of 36 freshmen (to just seven in the boys tourney), and some bear watching: BELLEVUE CHRISTIAN freshman point guard MICHELLE TENG, MAKENZIE BRANDON of SEATTLE ACADEMY and CASSIE MULLEN of BUSH, all from the Emerald City League, and budding 6-1 superstar ROSEBUD GUTHRIE of ZILLAH, who could be one of the tourney's top shot-blockers.

If the RIVER VIEW boys get hot, watch out. The Panthers, led by sharpshooter MATT SMITH, made 160 3-pointers this year. GRANGER can even top that: The Spartans racked up 174 treys, led by EDWARD CASTRO with 78 and R.J. SOLIS with 48.

One of the big differences in this year's COLFAX team is 6-foot-4 senior JAKE HEILSBERG, who missed last season with a football injury but this year is averaging nearly seven points for the Bulldogs' balanced lineup.

Jake is also part of Colfax's generational basketball; his dad, Jim, started on the Bulldogs' 1979 state championship team. Teammate ADAM BRUYA is the son of Tim Bruya, who started both years of the Bulldogs' two-year (1978-79) state title run. Guards MATTHEW and NATHAN JOHNSON are sons of Mark Johnson, another Bulldog of yore, and nephews of 1978 tourney MVP Bryan Johnson.

Like Heilsberg, NAPAVINE sophomore SARAH HYLTON has extra motivation this year: She has to miss the last half of the Tigers' 2005 season, and their third-place trophy run, after a bout with mononucleosis.

Seattle Academy is making its first state-tourney appearance, and that's understandable; when coach CATHY SCHICK started two years ago, the Cardinals didn't even field a JV team.

SEATTLE CHRISTIAN twins MELISSA and MEGAN COLLIER are only freshmen, but they're quite familiar with the SunDome. They watched two older brothers (Adam and Jordan), each of whom had three-year starting runs on Warrior teams that reached the finals.

Experience is why WHITE PASS is a serious girls title contender. Seniors KENDRA REDMON, KRISTEN ANDREW, JAIMYE ASHLEY and LEANNE LAMPING have all been full- or part-time starters since their freshman year.

Brewster senior MICHAEL TAYLOR has 133 career state-tournament points coming into this week. But perhaps a more impressive number is this: If the Bears win the boys title, Taylor would finish his career having played in 98 victories and only four losses -- not counting the seven games he missed in midseason last year with a severely sprained ankle.