Team chemistry matters most to The Herald’s Player of the Year

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Ask Randi Richardson to describe her best individual moment from the recently completed high school basketball season and she’ll quickly find a way to shift the spotlight to her team’s success.

The 5-foot-6 junior guard has a resume full of individual highlights to gloat about. Her scoring average (20.0 points per game) was second-best in the Western Conference; she tallied 30 points or more in a game three times; and Richardson’s 16 fourth-quarter points, including the game-winning shot in the final seconds, lifted her Arlington Eagles past Mountlake Terrace 59-58 in a Class 4A District 1 tournament loser-out game.

But in a season full of remarkable numbers, the one that makes Richardson proudest is 13 – as in 13 Arlington victories. That’s three more victories than the Eagles mustered in the past two seasons combined (seven in 2003-04 and three in 2002-03).

For continuing to be one of the area’s elite offensive threats while expanding her game to help Arlington climb the victory ladder, Richardson is The Herald’s 2005 Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Last summer Richardson put her sophomore season under the microscope. She decided it was time to become more well-rounded, to evolve into a leader who didn’t just score, but actually made her teammates better.

Mission accomplished.

“I did a lot better job this year of getting my teammates involved,” said Richardson, who set career highs with averages of 6.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.9 steals per game. “Girls on our team, they stepped up. It was a collective effort. We really played well.”

Facing double teams and defensive schemes designed specifically to stop her from scoring, Richardson hurt opponents by setting up other Eagles. “I wanted to get them the ball and make sure they had confidence,” she said.

With a fourth-place finish in the Wesco North Division and victories over Lake Stevens (14-10 overall) and Terrace (15-7) in the second half of the season, Arlington’s pride spiked.

“We’re just so cohesive,” Richardson said. “We have a great team chemistry.”

Suffering through two frustrating losing seasons has “made winning so much more special,” Richardson said. “I don’t take winning for granted at all.”

A straight-A student who admires Michael Jordan and Sue Bird, Richardson started playing basketball at age 5. No one else in her immediate family took up the game, but she quickly fell in love with it. Basketball, she said, provides a perfect outlet for her competitive nature.

“If I don’t go out and practice every day,” she said, “I feel like somebody else is out there getting better than me. It drives me to go out and work hard.

“On the basketball court,” Richardson continued, “it’s like I don’t have any worries. … I don’t think. I just go out and have fun. It’s just like my own little world.”