She remembers her aunt regularly tuning into New York Knicks games, and watching as Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston made them one of the NBA’s top teams in the 1990s.

South Kitsap senior Chelnesha Thuring, a Long Island, N.Y., native, developed her passion for basketball watching those games.

It continued when she was in second grade and her family relocated to Port Orchard, and has continued from Orchard Heights Elementary through South. Thuring is one of 10 seniors who have helped the Wolves reach the state tournament this week — their first appearance since 2000.

“I think we all feel like we have something to prove,” said Thuring, whose team lost 51-38 against Moses Lake in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. “Everyone underestimates us. We all knew we had talent on the team.”

With Stephanie Osterdahl, Angel Sheldon and leading scorer Molly Werder in the post, Thuring has been one of South’s first players off the bench.

Coach Mark Lutzenhiser said she hardly has been superfluous to the Wolves’ success, though.

“I told her she really is another starter,” he said. “She’s making really good decisions. She’s really done a great job.”

Lutzenhiser said he believes in the old “sixth-man concept” employed by legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach.

It calls for keeping one of the team’s five best players on the bench to start the game, which keeps the player fresher than the opponent’s starters upon entering the contest.

“It makes your team better and keeps the momentum going,” Lutzenhiser said. “She’s really taken to that role.”

In South’s 43-36 win Feb. 24 against Puyallup in the West Central District Tournament, Thuring hit a 12-foot shot from the baseline to tie the game, 30-all, with 3:40 minutes left.

She later found Tori Fairweather open for an uncontested layup that gave the Wolves a 34-30 edge with 2:20 remaining.

“A lot of people think it’s who starts the game,” Lutzenhiser said. “She’s done a lot of finishing that’s really important.”

Presentation is important to Thuring. She’s the armed drill commander for the school’s Naval JROTC program and was able to present the colors before a Seattle Mariners game last summer.

Thuring, whose parents both served in the Marine Corps, hopes to join the ROTC program at Central Washington or Washington State next fall.

She doesn’t plan to pursue a career in the military, though.

Thuring is taking an education class and wants to become a special-education or second-grade instructor.

“I like the whole environment in teaching,” she said.

One of her first lessons upon her arrival in the area was the lineage of her name.

“Since my mom is African American, most people assume it comes from her side of the family,” said Thuring, whose father told her as he hung a painting with her great-grandmother’s name as they moved into their home. “It actually comes from my dad’s side.”

Most of the team has grown up together, and a few have competed together since grade school. But unlike her teammates, Thuring even gave football a try in junior high. Her older sister, Arrielle, also played.

“I thought I might as well try something new,” she said. “It was fun. I love contact sports.”

Thuring played offensive guard as an eighth-grader and safety the following year at Marcus Whitman.

She said playing football at South never was a consideration, though.

“Those guys are big,” she said, laughing.

The 5-foot-10 Thuring deals with plenty of larger players in the post, though. Moses Lake’s 6-foot-5 Carly Noyes, who signed with WSU, was the latest.

“I have countless bruises all over,” she said. “That’s just part of the sport. I like the more physical game.”

Thuring is popular among her teammates — and not just because of her work in the low post.

“I love her to death,” senior guard Samantha Gulisao said. “If you’re down, she’s there to pick you up. She’s an all-around great person.”