he Fjortoft sisters have played basketball together since they were fender-high to the family car and bouncing balls around their cul-de-sac in Edmonds.
Three of them are in high school now, and they’re not playing street ball anymore.
Annelie is a junior guard, Hanna a sophomore forward and Julia a freshman guard for the undefeated Meadowdale Mavericks.
A couple of years ago, Mom hinted at the possibility they could become high school teammates.
“When Julia is a freshman, all three of you could be playing together in high school,” Jane Fjortoft told the girls.
Yeah, sure. Three siblings playing varsity ball on the same team? At Meadowdale no less, where roster spots in a highly competitive program are based on talent and not inheritance?
Welcome to the Mavericks of 2006-07.
They are 7-0 and, despite losing some key players off last season’s eighth-place state tournament team, are showing some star power again this season. Junior guard Eryn Jones is averaging 17.6 points per game and senior forward Marelle Moehrle 15.0.
And three of the Fjortoft sisters, like Mom said, are a part of it.
Hanna is averaging 10.1 points and brings tenacious defense to the floor. She was an All-Western Conference honorable mention selection as a freshman last season. Annelie comes off the bench and backs up Jones at point guard. Julia, a freshman, is a guard who already is showing a style similar to Hanna with her speed and athleticism.
All are multi-sport athletes – Annelie also plays volleyball and runs track, Hanna and Julia play soccer and run track – but basketball has made their bond special.
There’s also a fourth sister – Sara, a sixth grader at Holy Rosary School in Edmonds and already a force on the basketball court.
“She’s going to be better than all of us,” Julia Fjortoft said.
Such a sister act isn’t uncommon at Meadowdale. The Mavericks had two of the best a few years ago when the O’Neill sisters – Kelly and Kristen – starred.
But three on the same team? The Fjortofts know what a special season this is because they can share their triumphs and struggles together, both on and off the court. They learned each other’s moves at home in the cul-de-sac, playing basketball together with their father, Per Fjortoft.
“We can read each other on the court and know what the other one is going to do,” Hanna Fjortoft said. “It’s because we’re so much alike.”
It almost didn’t work out this way.
Hanna Fjortoft played on the Meadowdale varsity team last season as a freshman but her older sister, Annelie, made only the junior varsity. Annelie had thought about focusing on volleyball this school year and giving up basketball, but changed her mind.
“I’m very proud of Annelie for having the courage to come back,” Jane Fjortoft said. “With Hanna on varsity and Annelie on jayvee last year, it was difficult. I wondered if she could go through it again knowing that Julia was coming up this year.”
The sisters say they aren’t there just to support each other, and they don’t play their game to the exclusion of others on the Meadowdale roster. The entire team feels like a family unit, they say.
“We’re all like sisters,” Julia Fjortoft said.
“There’s no cliques,” added Hanna Fjortoft. “The whole team feels like we’re related.”
Coach Dan Taylor says the sisters support their teammates as much as they support each other.
“Team chemistry is so strong because they are loving to all the other girls,” he said. “They hang out with them, they all have fun together. They work hard on the floor and they work hard in the classroom. They’re very strong academically and have great personalities.”
This isn’t the first time three Fjortoft sisters have worn the Meadowdale uniform together. Two years ago, when Annelie was a freshman, the Mavericks played in a tournament in Oregon. Hanna was in eighth grade and Julia in seventh at Holy Rosary, and former Meadowdale coach Karen Blair asked the girls to bring their basketball shoes because the Mavs were short on players.
“All three of them suited up together, and that’s when it seemed possible that they could play together when they all were in high school,” Jane Fjortoft said.
At Meadowdale games this year, the Fjortoft name extends beyond the team roster. A half-dozen boys have formed a Fjortoft rooting section, wearing the sisters’ old Holy Rosary middle-school jerseys.
“Now, people at school are coming up and asking, ‘That’s really cool. Can I have a shirt? Do you have any more?’” Annelie Fjortoft said. “And I just tell them, ‘Well, yeah, but I’m starting to run out.’”
Off the court, the Fjortofts are regular teen-age girls. They work out together, shop together and spend plenty of free time at Starbucks. Hanna enjoys making pottery, Annelie likes photography and Julia is smitten by the Nintendo Mario Kart video game.
“That game is so much fun,” Julia said.
“And I’m so bad at it,” Hanna said. “I have such a difficult time steering that car.”
“Yeah,” Annelie added, “you are bad.”
On the basketball court, it’s a different game.
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