Like mother (and father) like daughter: AHS hoops standout to play where her mom's a Hall of Famer

It wasn't a Mother's Day gift exactly, but when Makena Patrick inked her name onto her letter of commitment to play basketball for the Peninsula College Pirates in Port Angeles, Washington at a signing ceremony late last month, the stellar Lady Copperhead did her mom and dad, Tiffany and Kevin, proud in more ways than one. 

Not only is it the college where the two met and also played b-ball for the Pirates, but it's where Tiffany is a Hall of Famer after an outstanding career of her own.

"I'm really excited," said Makena, who will be studying nursing at the two-year college. "I love the coach [Allison Crumb]. I visited there last summer. I'm comfortable with the area. Coach Crumb was part of my decision. She made me feel welcome there. She wants someone who's a leader, someone who will fill in all the roles where it's needed. I'm looking forward to it."

Said her mom when asked of her daughter's decision to follow in her footsteps and sign with her alma mater: "It's kind of surreal to be honest."

"I didn't know she would want to go that far away from home," Tiffany said. "But Peninsula is a very tight-knit community. Port Angeles is very similar to Anaconda. It'll help with the transition. It's a great fit, and obviously having played there – Kevin played there, my grandpa coached there – it's a great fit. Out of all the offers she had, it's the furthest, so I was surprised, but after she made her decision both of us were so excited. It's the best thing for her, it's going to be seamless. It'll be easy." 

Makena just concluded a highly successful career for the Lady Copperheads, reaching the 1,000-point club despite missing most of her junior year after a triple-ligament tear in her knee. But she came back her senior year and helped lead the girls back to the state tournament. 

Her high school coach, Andy Saltenberger, congratulated her and particularly praised her work ethic, saying "She works hard, she was more and more confident every night, more confident in that leg, and that all stemmed from how hard she worked. She put the time and effort in to recover that quickly and get back after it." 

"Looking back on it, I'm glad I never gave up," Makena said of her return from injury. "It's really rewarding and I'm glad I never gave up."

Now she'll be putting in that same effort for a new coach, whom her mom said "will be perfect for her."

"She expects a lot from her athletes, but she moves athletes, too," Tiffany said, referring to Makena's hope to play at a four-year college afterward. 

It's a path Tiffany herself undertook, having gone from Peninsula to play for Central Washington University. But before that, she was one of the Pirates' pioneers of its women's basketball program, which started in her freshman year in 1997. Much like Makena did this year in battling back to recover from that knee injury, Tiffany came back from an ACL tear in her knee as well to average 14 points per game for the Pirates and elevated their game from loss after loss to a 7-9 season under her aforementioned grandfather, Curt Bagby. The following year was even better as the team notched 12 wins while Tiffany averaged 12 points per game. 

Bagby may be unknown in Montana, but his was a household name on the Olympic Peninsula as a star athlete from Forks (which much later became famous for the "Twilight Saga") who would go on to become a Hall of Fame head coach at both Peninsula and at Port Angeles High School before that. 

And now that family tradition will continue with Makena, and perhaps like her mom she, too, will one day be a Hall-of-Fame player for the Pirates.