Varsity Tuesday: Guertin about to start over

By TIM DUMAS Chronicle Sports Writer

When she once again becomes a stranger, it won't seem so strange. When the land again becomes foreign, a familiar feeling will follow her.

ERIK PETERSEN/CHRONICLE Jeni Guertin has played in the state finals in each of her three seasons at Bozeman High. This summer, Jeni Guertin starts all over again. Bottom rung of life's ladder. Yet this is one case of deja vu she'll be happy to take with her.

When the Bozeman High senior becomes a member of Idaho State's women's basketball team later this year, she'll know where she stands.

Same as it was three years ago when she was a freshman playing varsity ball with a talented and senior-laden Hawk team.

"I knew where my place was," Guertin said Sunday night.

Guertin has come a long way since playing, as a ninth-grader, seven minutes of Bozeman's 2005 appearance in the Class AA state finals. She scored one point that night in her team's 58-47 loss to Billings West.

Three years later, Guertin and the Hawks are attempting to become just the third girls team in AA history to not only play in four consecutive state title games, but to win three in a row.

"That would be amazing," the team's leading scorer (8.4 points per game) said. "I can't even fathom that. That's definitely what our goal is."

It wasn't that long ago that Guertin was in a life transition. Her family had moved from Seattle to Bozeman the summer before her eighth grade year. Friends and routines were left behind.

Easing the blow, however, was that Dani Peterson - now Bozeman's point guard - and her family made the same move. Peterson, also a senior, has been Jeni's teammate since the pair played on the same traveling team - coached by Dani's father - near Seattle.

The reason for the move was simple.

"They (the parents of both families) were tired of the traffic and the rain," Guertin said.

When Guertin entered high school, there was more change. She was one of two freshmen (along with Kirsten Tilleman) to make the varsity roster, a lineup that included a number of future college players that finished the regular season at 19-1.

But Guertin wasn't treated as a bottom feeder.

"It was scary," she recalled. "Obviously I was intimidated. But they were so nice to me. They just took me in."

When you're a Hawk, age doesn't matter, according to Bozeman head coach Brooke Svendsen.

"When Jeni was a freshman, I don't think she ever appeared to have that 'freshman fear,'" Svendsen said. "My philosophy is that when you are in high school, it is no longer an age thing - we are all one team no matter what. We do our best to provide the best opportunity for every player at any level."

Guertin had her best season wearing red and black last year when she led Class AA in field goal percentage and was third in blocked shots. But she says what put her over the top when it came to college recruiting was her three seasons of summer basketball, the first two with the Spokane Stars, the last with Big Sky Hoops.

One of her teammates on the Stars was Angie Bjorklund, who now plays at the University of Tennessee, one of the country's top programs.

"It's crazy watching her on TV," Guertin says.

When Idaho State comes to Bozeman for its only visit of the season on Feb. 21, the tube may be the only way for her to see the game. On tape, that is.

That night, Bozeman hosts Butte High, which is currently undefeated and is a strong candidate to end the Hawks' string of titles.

And staying on top is all that Guertin is concerned with. Impressing her soon-to-be coaches in Pocatello can wait.

"Right now I'm just having fun with my high school season, but at the same time, we have to stay focused," she said. "We always have that huge, red target on our back."

It won't be long before Guertin brings her 3.4 grade point average and her strong inside game to Idaho State. When she gets there, Guertin can use the knowledge-is-power adage to her advantage.

All she needs to do is recall her freshman season at Bozeman High.

"I had to raise the bar, especially playing against teams with kids that were older than me," she said. "I definitely had to change my style of play; I had to be more intense.

"I think I can use that experience in college: Let the seniors do their own thing and know where I stand."

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