Yellow Pages
MOUNT VERNON — The names may not be familiar to fans of the Skagit Valley College women’s basketball team, but they will be to fans of area high school girls’ basketball.
The Cardinal women will include three new guards from area high schools, including two of Skagit County’s top 10 all-time scorers.
“I’d always rather have local kids, just from a local interest standpoint,” Cardinals coach Steve Epperson said. “We’ve got basically the best players from the three biggest high schools in the area.”
Anacortes’ Brittany Janz finished her prep career with 1,605 points, the third most in county history. Burlington-Edison’s Keri Arendse (1,182) is 10th on the list, and like Janz holds her school’s scoring record.
Also wearing Cardinal red this year will be Mount Vernon graduate Adrianne Ridenhour. A little taller than the other two, her versatility allows her to swing to a forward or even a post position if necessary.
“I think we look pretty good,” Ridenhour said. “We’re all really competitive during practices, and it makes us all better.”
Along with returning Sedro-Woolley post Natalie Moreno, that means the nine-player roster includes one from each of the county’s Northwest Conference schools.
“They’ve kind of played against each other, so you can kind of tell there’s a little rivalry between them sometimes,” sophomore Ashley Grater said. “But they get along just fine, and it’s nice to have the competitiveness they have.”
The three new additions join returning guards Grater and Alex Love in the backcourt.
“We’re probably more aggressive. We get after it more than last year,” Grater said. “We have a lot of new girls, so it’s going to be completely different.”
One of the challenges, Epperson said, will be finding a point guard from that group.
“The area that’s a little thin is our ball handling,” Epperson said. “Alex and Ashley are going to have to step up and handle a lot of the ball-handling duties.”
The Cardinal front line is almost all new, with Moreno being the only holdover, but their size and speed should more than offset the youth. Bellingham’s Karly Joseph (5-foot-11) and Snohomish’s Shante Scott (6-1) will be joined by Montana Tech transfer Alyssa Koller (6-2).
Along with the 6-1 Moreno, that quartet should make the Cardinals among the biggest, if not the biggest, front line in the NWAACC North Division.
“The nice thing is we’ve got four posts,” Epperson said. “They’re all good scorers, they all have really good hands inside, and they’re very aggressive and assertive. They’re strong, and they post up very tough rather than just go and stand there and hope they get the ball. They go down there and knock somebody out of the way.”
The Cardinal roster looks like it will stay at nine. Hong Kong transfer student Tsz Yan Chung is unlikely to be ruled eligible, Epperson said, and returning guard Alyssa Hendrickson from Blaine is out for the year with an ACL injury suffered during the women’s soccer season.
The Cardinals were eliminated in two straight games last year at the NWAACC Tournament.
“I think we’ll do a lot better than we did last year,” Grater said. “I want to go a little bit farther, and I think with this team, we have a lot of good talent this year, so I think we’ll be able to go a lot farther.”
Eric Francis can be reached at 360-416-2131 or by e-mail at
