January 10, 2018 By Chris Varney
Before the Grinnell Tiger girls basketball season began, Head Coach Trent Edsen had mentioned to his assistant Mark Kivett that this year’s team might not be shooting a lot of three point baskets. After all, Grinnell was losing the school’s all-time three point shooter Maddie Wilkins plus Kyra Hungerford to graduation. Grinnell had hit a school record 197 threes last season on their way to their first ever state tournament appearance.
Scratch that on day one. Grinnell tied a school record in their opener with 19 triples against Des Moines Christian. Shortly after that I asked Edsen who on this team was stepping up in Wilkins and Hungerford’s place and the answer was, “Everyone.”
Last night, Grinnell took their three point shooting to another level as they set a new school record, putting 20 threes on the board in a 84-43 victory at Gilbert. Every player that scored in the game hit at least one three pointer. Junior Naomi Jackson led the way with 6 rainbows that found the pot of gold and a game high 22 points. It was Sienna Durr who put the Tigers over the top with her third triple on the night midway through the 4th quarter and the 20th of the game. All the Grinnell fans stood and cheered loudly after Durr’s shot; obviously they were keeping track of the girls progress. Kameron Moore had 15 points and 4 threes, Macy Harris 12 points and 2 triples, with Lauren Bolte (6 and 2), Sarah Gosselink (5 and 1), Megan Doty (4 and 1) and Bailee Kriegel (3 and 1) all chipped in to the record.
The Tigers are now on pace to break last year’s record for three pointers in a season. GHS currently has 121 threes in 344 attempts for an average of 10.1 a game. The 121 leads the entire state as of this writing regardless of class (some teams have not entered their stats from last night’s game). Grinnell is currently on pace to make 212 three pointers in 602 attempts.
Last night, Gilbert did a nice job of beating the press early in the game but there was no way they could stay in a shootout with Grinnell. Gilbert was 3-21 from three point land — that means they had one more attempt than Grinnell had made. The scary thing is that Coach Edsen in the post-game said Grinnell actually left a few more threes out on the court. That means the record of 20 may not last for long.
Three point shooting is just one of this team’s many strengths. Grinnell lives off their pressure defense which creates turnovers in massive amounts. That creates more shooting opportunities than most teams can imagine. If you defend the three, then Grinnell will find other ways to beat you. Durr is the best at posting up on the blocks, Harris and Moore both like to drive to the basket before shoot the three, and the Tigers will get bunches of points in transition. But when the threes go in, Grinnell is unbeatable.
The saying goes that if you live by the three, you die by the three. So far for Grinnell, the Tigers have not lived by the three but opponents have certainly died by them.
Listen to last night’s game with Gilbert again including post-game interviews with Naomi Jackson, Bailee Kriegel, and Head Coach Trent Edsen on demand at myiowainfo.com.