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| The Perfectionist | ||||||||||
 An unhappy Ashley Corral
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Though in the winner's circle during the first day of competition at the Washington State 4A tournament, Prairie's Ashley Corral expected a lot more of herself. | |||||||||
TACOMA, Wash. - When the perfectionist in Al Aldridge is dissatisfied, the self-proclaimed, perpetually grumpy Prairie coach puffs up his chest and bellows his displeasure. His similarly demanding point guard, junior Ashley Corral, discusses a sub-par performance with red-rimmed eyes and a voice that cracks with emotion. They express things differently, but the two are so much the same - tough and expectant of success. And that's why this has been, and will continue to be, one of the more challenging seasons of their basketball careers. They are not going to be satisfied with most results, and their own excellence is not going to completely change those results.
Not in Ashley Corral's world. Not when, even when she views the situation through the most team-oriented glasses, she knows she must produce for Prairie to succeed. Which is why, in spite of a game-high 14 points to go with six rebounds and four steals, Corral was critical of herself, and so was Aldridge. "I'm happy we won of course ...," Corral said, her voice trailing. "I just get so mad at myself." Silence. "Today was not a typical game for her," Aldridge said. It wasn't typical because so much more is expected. Needed, actually. It's hard to believe that Corral is only a junior. It seems like she has been center stage at the state tournament for years. That perception is largely because Prairie has played so many meaningful games with her at the helm. But, the first two years, she was surrounded not only by talent, but by experienced talent. This year's team is green and some players who were expected to produce more have not. So Corral takes on the burden of taking up the slack. And Aldridge lets her. And now it's an expectation. "This year, I've taken on more of the leadership," Corral said. "I'm not the youngest player on the team anymore. Now I have to be the one who tells the freshmen to take a breath before they leave the locker room for the first game. It's very hard being an upperclassmen and expecting everything to be perfect. And it's hard being a freshman with those expectations. I have to remember what that's like.
That, the scoring, was the crux of Corral's disappointment about the Bellarmine Prep game. It was not just the scoring, but, for a perfectionist, it's how she scored. Corral made just six of 17 shots. So while she scored, she did not score efficiently. Already considered one of the best point guards in the country, Corral toiled diligently during the offseason, in anticipation of the new demands. She worked out with a trainer to develop leg and upper-body strength "to make it easier to finish against bigger players," she explained. "I'm small." She's 5 feet 8, but invades the purview of the giants frequently. Then, as the season approached, Corral spent a lot of time in the gym, honing her shot. And that, really, has been an area of marked improvement for her this season. Yet, even if Corral didn't shoot as well as she had been - or as well as she expected to - she still orchestrated the game as if everyone else were so many characters in a video game and she had the only controller. She sliced, she diced, she dissected the usually sturdy Bellarmine defense like a Ginsu. She was credited with only two assists but placed the ball perfectly into her teammates' hands so many times, it had to have been more. Teammate Rachel Bristow kept pace with 14 points, largely because of Corral's floor leadership as much as her threat of scoring. "She doesn't have to score to make a difference in the game," Bellarmine Prep coach Kevin Meines said. "People say you stop Ashley Corral, you stop Prairie, that she's a one-person team. But she makes everyone on that team better, so it can't be a one-person team. To be able to lift the rest of the team like that takes a special player. And she's a special player."
"She makes us go," Aldridge said. "She creates opportunities for her teammates. If she gets in her shooting groove, she will be really tough." No one has seen that more times than Skyview coach Steve Hook. Skyview, not to mention the rest of the Greater St. Helens League, has not beaten Prairie during Corral's career there. The last time he saw her, his team was on the short end of a double-overtime, district championship game and Corral had scored a school-record 38 points. After his team lost 58-44 to Vandersloot and Kentwood, Hook was asked to compare the two high-powered point guards. "Corral vs. Vandersloot - now I'd like to watch that one," he said. "Corral and Vandersloot - that would be a war." Ashley Corral liked the sound of that herself. After all, the matchup would have to take place with the state championship on the line. "I'd like nothing better," Corral said. No surprise, she likes Prairie's chances. Of course, she will have a lot to say - and do - about them. First-Round Results Lewis and Clark 59, Puyallup 36 Roosevelt 61, Central Kitsap 27 Kentwood 58, Skyview 44 Mead 74, Jackson 59 Prairie 48, Bellarmine Prep 22 Snohomish 56, Mount Tahoma 48 Bothell 59, Kentlake 41 University 53, Lake Stevens 43 Thursday's Schedule 9:00 am, Puyallup vs. Central Kitsap 10:30 am, Skyview vs. Jackson 12:00 pm, Bellarmine Prep vs. Mount Tahoma 2:00 pm, Kentlake vs. Lake Stevens 3:30 pm, Lewis and Clark vs. Roosevelt 5:00 pm, Kentwood vs. Mead 7:00 pm, Prairie vs. Snohomish 8:30 pm, Bothell vs. University Click Here
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