Lauren Arthur would rather be on the court helping the Wolverines.

Arthur, the soon-to-be 28-year-old first-year head coach of the West Potomac girls’ basketball team, was a standout guard at the school prior to graduating in 2005. Her success as an AAU player earned her a spot in the Fairfax Stars Hall of Fame. She also played Division I college ball at Campbell University in North Carolina.

But on Tuesday, Arthur could only watch from near the West Potomac bench as the Wolverines fouled a Lake Braddock player 30 feet from the basket with 2.2 seconds remaining in overtime. The result: one made Lake Braddock free throw and a 41-40 loss to the Bruins at West Potomac High School.

“I think [tough losses are] definitely harder to take as a coach,” Arthur said. “Coming from my playing background, I just want to jump out there and go out there and help them. It’s kind of hard — especially as a first-year head coach having to sit on the sidelines and just give the advice and the pointers and the direction.

“It’s definitely a little bit harder as a coach.”

After gaining experience as an assistant coach with the Fairfax Stars and perennial power West Springfield, Arthur returned to her alma mater (she also played one season at St. John’s) to start her head-coaching career. At West Potomac, Arthur takes on the challenge of leading a program that has been a revolving door for head coaches — Arthur is the Wolverines’ fifth head coach in the last six seasons.

Arthur said she understands the challenge of adapting to a new coach — she played for two head coaches in her three seasons at West Potomac. Sophomore guard Grace Moery, who played for veteran coach Kenny Farmer as a freshman last season, is taking a positive approach to the transition.

“I've been very fortunate to play for two great coaches,” Moery wrote in an email. “My freshman year, I obviously did not have the basketball experience some of the other girls had. Coach Farmer had been coaching for so long, so he really helped me become adjusted to the atmosphere, improved my confidence as a player, and helped me learn a ton just about the game in general because of how long he had been coaching. Similarly to Coach Farmer, Coach Lauren has a passion for the game but also has experience as a player, not just a coach.”

Arthur said she won’t be one-and-done with the Wolverines.

“I always said if I was going to be a head coach I would want to do it at West Potomac because it’s kind of dear and … I played in the program,” Arthur said. “We have a reputation that we’re not really a good basketball program. If I couldn’t change that as a player, I want to change it as a coach. I’m definitely committed for a couple years. I don’t know where my life is going to take me, but it’s definitely not to just get my feet wet and leave for another program.

“I would like to build this program.”

Moery said she tries to learn from the experiences of her latest head coach.

“I think it’s really cool how Coach Lauren has come back to coach at a school she once played at,” Moery wrote. “Because of her experience at the DI level and all of her other credentials, I try to soak up as much information that I can because I know she has been in situations like me before.”

Moery is part of a young West Potomac roster that includes three seniors, five juniors, four sophomores and a freshman. Junior guard Bre Elphage and sophomore center Haleigh Hopper each scored eight points against Lake Braddock. Freshman center Natalie Terwilliger finished with six points, and junior guard Tenesha Green and Moery each added five.

Tuesday’s loss dropped the Wolverines’ record to 7-14, including 3-8 in Conference 7.

“I think Coach Lauren will definitely get us where we have always wanted to be,” Moery wrote. “For so long, West Potomac girls’ basketball has been overlooked, and we all want to change that. She pushes us even when we think we have reached our limit, which shows us how much more we can really do. Her knowledge of the game has helped me become a smarter basketball player and make better decisions on the court.”

Next up in the West Potomac rebuilding process: the team’s regular season finale at home against Annandale. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12.

“I think it’s just creating a relationship with the girls from the jump,” Arthur said about dealing with the program’s shuffling of head coaches. “I tell them all the time I care about them more as a person than I [care about] what they do on the court, and I don’t think many of them have heard that. I think it’s just generating relationships and letting them know I’m here to the end with them.”