Blue-collar Bravette

Junior post averaging 16.2 points and seven rebounds per game as Flathead gets off to 7-3 start

Quiet.

Always there, working hard, usually smiling and often not saying much at all.

Flathead Bravette basketball coach Dennis Latimer admits there have been times when given an opportunity to hand out kudos, he's actually forgotten about junior post Holli Hashley.

"It's a given Holli is just going to do her job - and she does," the coach explained.

"She's the blue-collar, black lunchbox girl that comes to work every day and gets the job done. We can always count on her."

Hashley's name might sometimes slip the mind of her head coach, but she never slips under the radar of Flathead opponents.

The 'blue collar, black lunchbox girl' is averaging 16.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

"When people want to stop Flathead, they know the way to do it is to stop Holli Hashley," Latimer said. "People just flat out respect her."

"But Holli still finds another avenue to score or help the team," he added.

"Her offense is really good. She has great moves obviously that she learned from her father (former MSU Bobcat and current Bravette frosh AA coach Doug Hashley)," said teammate and friend Lindsay Bennett. "She has really good awareness out on the court."

"She handles things," Latimer said.

"She handles pressure. She handles situations.

"She's the kind of kid everybody wants to cheer for. She's a genuine person. She's got a great smile, great attitude and you always know she'll give 100 percent,"

he added.

More important to Hashley is the Bravettes are off to a 7-3 start on the 2004-2005 season. With eight games ahead on the schedule, Flathead has already won two more contests than it managed in all of the 2003-2004 campaign.

"People weren't expecting much out of us and we're really proving everybody wrong," Hashley said. "Everybody is contributing their own thing. And that little bit helps pull it together."

"We're improving every single game," Bennett agreed. "We're all going to make mistakes and we all know that."

Getting Hashley to talk about the team? Just say the word.

"I think we have good chemistry," she said. "Everybody kind of accepts everybody. You can see it. I'm really proud of all the young girls."

But getting Hashley to talk about herself? Not an easy task.

"She's a quiet leader," Latimer acknowledged. "(The younger Bravettes) trust her. But when she does speak, it's like E.F. Hutton," he smiled.

"I am doing better this year than last year," she said.

"I use the moves my dad taught me. I've been rebounding a lot better this year. That gives me more opportunities to score.

"But Amanda (Lidstrom), Meghan (O'Connell) and Lindsay (Bennett) are giving me a ton of assists. I wouldn't be anything without their passes."

Basketball is important in the Hashley household.

Holli, 17, is the oldest of Doug and Bekki Hashley's four children.

Doug was his daughter's first coach when she signed up for Rotary basketball as a third grader at Edgerton School.

His assessment?

"She's getting better,"he said.

"This is the first year I've seen her really use some post moves. She's learning every time. It's been a learning process for each of (the Bravettes). It's a learning process each time they get on the floor. It's a blast for me watching these kids get better and better. They are starting to just jell."

Overall knowledge of the game is where Holli has shown the most improvement, her dad said.

"She listens well at home.

"But we don't talk about it a lot," he said. "It's not an overwhelming thing. We don't go home and rehash games. When we talk, it's about skills," he said.

"I try not to do too much," Doug said. "We try to figure out what she can work on.

"Right now she's having a good time and competing hard."

He admits there were some tense father-daughter moments in the early days.

"We have had our battles. When I maybe step out of bounds … it gets too intense. There's definitely been some stubborn moments," Doug said.

"We've gotten in fights," the younger Hashley said.

"He's always 'I did this,'" Holli smiled.

"But he doesn't put any pressure on me.

"He'll just give me so many more tips and advice to use next time.

"We're both so competitive. But I wouldn't be doing as well if he wasn't there," she hastened to add.

It's her attitude with the younger Bravettes that makes her dad most proud.

Holli was a freshman member of the Bravette team that captured a third place trophy at the Class AA state tournament two years ago.

"She was nurtured by (then seniors) Jyndia Schaible and Becky O'Neil,"he said.

"Now she's 'paying it forward.' She's doing a nice job of taking care of the younger kids. I've been proud of that.

"They're taking care of each other, he added. "There's so much more than basketball."

"She is a really good leader," said Bennett. "The girls look up to her. She's friends with almost everyone on the team," she added.

As for future plans, the 3.0 GPA student still has another year of high school, but she is hoping for a college scholarship.

"I'd really like to play basketball in college, but I don't know if anybody is looking for a 5-9 post."