PORT ANGELES — The rebuilding of the Olympic Rangers women’s basketball program will include three proven winners from the Port Angeles High School team.
Shayla Northern, Mariah Frazier and Macy Walker signed letters of intent to play at Olympic College on Wednesday morning at Port Angeles High School at an event attended by Rangers head coach Chloe Mosey.
“I like that I’m getting all three of them,” Mosey said.
“We are rebuilding. They are just going to bring in the competition that OC needs as far as women’s basketball goes.
“They all three have the competitive drive and the heart to win, and of course they have the talent. So, bringing that into our program will lead us to success.”
Frazier, Northern and Walker have been playing basketball together since fifth grade — “First, we were on the Rockers, and then the Rollers, and then we went on to the Olympic Avalanche, which was a traveling basketball team,” Walker said.
Most recently, they were part of the Roughriders teams that reached the 2A state tournament in 2012 and came within a game of doing likewise this season.
“It’s a great feeling, especially [because] I get to spend it with my two favorite players that I’ve been playing with for a really long time,” Frazier said.
“It’s the best thing in the world.”
Frazier, an All-Olympic League first team shortstop in 2012, also will play softball at Olympic.
She originally planned on playing only softball in college, even making recruiting visits to schools as far away as Texas.
“Then I heard that [Walker and Northern] were talking to coach [Mosey], too,” Frazier said.
“I didn’t want to quit basketball quite yet, so I thought I could get two more years of basketball, and then I can transfer if I still want to play softball after that.”
Northern said she will attempt also to play on the Rangers’ soccer team.
She was an All-Olympic League second team honoree last fall as a midfielder, though she also spent a lot of time playing defender due to a rash of injuries that hit the Roughriders.
While Walker, Frazier and Northern have a history of basketball success, Olympic has a habit of finishing near the bottom of the NWAACC North Division.
Last year, the Rangers were 0-24 on the season.
Mosey, who was hired in late May 2012, is overseeing a massive rebuilding project.
Walker likes the challenge that lies ahead.
“I know we can turn it around, and it’s exciting,” she said.
An example of an NWAACC turnaround is about a mile away at Peninsula College.
Alison Crumb, a former Roughrider herself, has led the Pirates to consecutive NWAACC tournament appearances after beginning her tenure with a pair of 2-14 division seasons.
And, since Peninsula, like Olympic, is in the North Division, Northern, Frazier and Walker will be returning to Port Angeles as enemies next winter.
“Yeah, that’s going to be weird,” Walker said, “but it will be cool.”
