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Rogue Valley connection lifts Pilots By Don Hunt University of Portland women's basketball coach Jim Sollars always knew that if Ashlee Giles ever believed in herself as much as he did, she could become one of the top college players in the Pacific Northwest. Giles apparently got the message. Now a junior guard with the Pilots, the former North Medford High standout has led her team to a 3-0 record to start the 2001-2002 season, including a 77-73 victory over Oregon a week ago today. "Ashlee has always had the ability to be a great player, but she had a tendency to get down on herself," Sollars says. "Now she's able to work through adversity. "It was just a matter of maturing a little bit." Giles had a huge game against the Ducks, registering 18 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists. It was her steal and subsequent free throw with 11 seconds remaining in the game that sealed the victory. Giles followed that performance with a 13-point output in Portland's 72-69 overtime victory over the University of California-Irvine on Sunday. Her 3-point basket with 36 seconds remaining in the extra session put Portland ahead to stay. On the season, Giles is averaging 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals per game. "She's got the athleticism to play at the next level," Sollars says, "if not in the WNBA then certainly in Europe." Giles isn't the only player from the Rogue Valley who is helping the Pilots fly off to their best start in recent years. Ashland's Hanna Seltzer has been serving as the team's sixth man and also contributed significantly against the Ducks with 11 points, including a 6-for-6 showing at the free-throw line. Seltzer, a 5-foot-8 guard, has scored 22 points in the Pilots' three games. "She's played well enough to crack our starting lineup, but she's been such a big spark off the bench that I hate to mess with it," Sollars says of Seltzer. "She's a tough kid." The Pilots' next game is Saturday at home against UC Riverside. They then host Boise State on Monday and travel to Oregon State on Dec. 6, when Giles will meet up with former North Medford teammate Ericka Brosterhous Cook, who is a starting post player for the Beavers. WHEN CRAIG SIEBENLIST was fired as the head boys basketball coach at Crater High on April 28, 1994, for reasons only former principal Dave Gardner can explain, he left the job begrudgingly. Siebenlist had taken a program that had hit rock bottom and molded it into a state playoff team his third year on the job. Siebenlist's crime? Gardner didn't single out any one incident, only that there were "regular displays of unsportsmanlike conduct" by the team, including "players displaying anger and hostility when a teammate is substituted in their place," according to a story that ran in the Mail Tribune. Siebenlist, who had coached basketball for 16 years at various levels, filed a grievance with the Central Point School District but was never reinstated. In the 71/2 years since his dismissal, Siebenlist has been approached by several other schools to apply for vacant coaching jobs. He declined, preferring to spend time with his three young daughters and tend to his growing rental business. But with his middle daughter, Jenna, now a sophomore on the North Medford High hoop squad and with Black Tornado coach J.T. Thomas needing a varsity assistant, Siebenlist finds himself back on the coaching sidelines. "The toughest part was to coach somewhere other than Crater," says Siebenlist, who has spent his entire 23 years teaching and coaching in Central Point and will coach the Crater girls golf team in the spring. "It was a little difficult at first to put on the black shirt and red shorts (North Medford colors), but it's already been a rewarding experience. "I've always enjoyed coaching, and it doesn't matter whether it's boys or girls." CRATER HIGH administrators will begin taking applications for the school's vacant football job at the beginning of next week, athletic director Dan Speasl said. Randy Heath resigned the position last month after posting a four-year record of 8-28, including a 1-8 mark this past season. Speasl said the position will stay open until the end of January, when administrators will begin to screen applicants. He said the school hopes to have someone hired by spring break. The school expects to have a P.E. opening to go with the coaching job since Heath is resigning his teaching position as well. Crater may not have a reputation as a football school - the Comets last made the state playoffs in 1985 - but the right coach could turn things around. With an enrollment of just over 1,600, the school has plenty of kids. One of the new coach's first priorities should be to round up all the wrestlers he can find and put them in football uniforms. Crater has won the state wrestling championship three of the past four years and finished third at the state tournament last winter. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.