Jaime (Rasmussen) Burrows, passing on her star quality to her son.
Willie Smith saves this reaction for any fool who doesn’t recognize the greatness of his 1999-2000 Wolf girls’ hoops squad.
Legends are made in a moment.
Twelve years, eight months and two days ago, Jaime (Rasmussen) Burrows made hers, and forever etched her name and her team into Coupeville High School history.
A defensive spark-plug for the Wolf girls’ basketball team, Burrows left most of the scoring to the triple-threat buzzsaw of Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby, Brianne King and Tina (Lyness) Joiner. But that day — March 2, 2000 — it was the unsung senior who took the ball, pump-faked the world and spun down the baseline for the biggest basket of her career.
Moments later, when she iced a 20-5 fourth quarter comeback with two perfect free throws, CHS had a stunning 46-42 win over Freeman, the first-ever victory at the state tournament in Wolf girls’ basketball history.
Rumors that Coupeville coach Willie Smith shrieked like a little girl getting a new pony are just that, rumors. But the memory still warms the heart of the veteran coach, who toils as a baseball guru these days.
“This was a group of girls patterned after my own heart: tough, disciplined, team oriented, and with a fair amount of goofiness,” Smith said. “This illustrates why I loved coaching that team — we had Lyness, Bagby and King, three of the biggest names in girls basketball and it was Jaime Rasmussen who got us going and it was those three girls that kept feeding her the ball.
“If ever there could be a team that defined what team play was like, this would be the one,” he added. “And this was true of so many other games.
“Rachelle Solomon who was coming off of ACL injury and was tough, quick, and fearless, Tracy Taylor, our big man who wasn’t, but could care less about how big the other players were and was relentless defensively and as a rebounder, Yasmeen Knox, super athletic, wasn’t tall but played big, Penny Griggs, Laura and Emily Young — all three were so crucial to the team because of how hard they worked in practice and could come into games and give us crucial time.”
And the woman of the moment? She remains forever low-key about her own innate studliness, subtly waving away my offer to claim glory for herself.
“Oh Dave, we were a great team and always played as a team!,” Burrows said. “We played hard and solid as a team the whole game but really proved our perseverance at the end.”
Not that she doesn’t look back on her moment in the spotlight fondly. Now a wife and mother of two living on the frozen tundra in Wisconsin, where’s she studying to be a network engineer, Burrows can still see the plays crystal clear in her memory.
“I remember how nervous, yet calm, I was, standing at the free-throw line,” Burrows said. “Free throws were always something that I struggled with, mostly because of the pressure, but, miraculously that day, I had it going on!
“My pump fake baseline layup was also quite memorable,” she added. “I think about it now and it is almost surreal … definitely some of my best memories.”
The 1999-2000 squad caught some by surprise. Coming on the heels of an immensely-talented, state-qualifying Wolf squad of two years earlier, led by Ann Pettit, Zenovia Barron, Hilary Kortuem and Maureen Wetmore, that year’s team wasn’t as highly regarded.
Chief among the detractors were Archbishop Thomas Murphy, which came in through the front door swaggering and undefeated, then retreated out the back door, licking its wounds after the Wolves beat them twice in the final week of the season.
“Murphy had just moved into our league that year and their coach was fairly arrogant about how good his team would be and how he wouldn’t be challenged until the playoffs,” Smith said. “We started off with some injuries and illnesses, so early in the season, he, along with everyone else was probably thinking he was right.
“But we got everyone back right before league started and things started clicking,” he added. “We ended up blowing Murphy out at home by twenty some points, when Bagby had an unreal first half.”
Then came the biggie.
“The game that put us into the tournament was also against Murphy and was loser out. It went down to the last 10 seconds of the game and we had the ball,” Smith said.
“I pulled Tina aside and sat with her for about two or three minutes on the bench in the fourth quarter. I had her watch, then turned to her and said, ‘You know what they’re saying about you? They are saying you aren’t good enough to worry about guarding and don’t think you can beat them’,” he added. “Well, she went out and scored 10 or 12 points that quarter, including the game winner with no time on the clock over their two six foot players.”
“One of my favorite moments in all of high school basketball,” Joiner said. “To eliminate ATM from heading to state was extremely satisfying.”
A feeling that Burrows completely agrees with.
I think my favorite memory was when we beat ATM to go to state; they were such a thorn in my side that season because of their arrogance,” Burrows said. “It was amazing the crowd support and when the bleachers swarmed the court at the end it was AWESOME!
“It is a fond memory and one that I will treasure forever,” she added. “It holds a special place in my heart because of my teammates and our spectacular coaches who put so much into helping us succeed as a team and as individuals.”
Now scattered, living their adult lives, but still connected by friendship and the memories of their miracle season, the ’99-’00 hoop squad is one that remains a personal favorite of its coach.
“They didn’t care who scored, didn’t care who got the headlines, were fearless, relentless, and hated to lose. That’s why I loved that team!,” Smith said. “I could go on forever about this team; I could talk about all the pranks we played on each other, the summer tourneys — it was just a great, fun team.
“I don’t think, and I may be a bit biased, but I just have not seen a team like that around here since,” he added. “There have been some good teams, but I can’t believe that there is one that was as tough and as united as that team.”
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