Frosh phenom draws attention
Published 12:01 am Tuesday, January 8, 2008
When a player scores 30-plus points in his varsity basketball debut, he’s bound to garner lots of attention.
That was definitely the case when Brett Kingma, a freshman guard from Jackson High School, dropped in 32 points Dec. 5 in a season-opening victory over Cascade. Kingma’s stunning performance created some local buzz and gave Jackson’s opponents a clear target to focus on.
“When people start scouting you and they’re saying you can (score), teams try to take it away,” Jackson coach Steve Johnson said. “Teams gave (Kingma) more attention and got more physical. It’s been a little bit of an adjustment.”
After scoring a season-low seven points in Jackson’s second game of the season, Kingma seems to be making the right adjustments. He exploded for a season-high 33 points Dec. 28 in a loss against Bellevue Christian and is averaging 17.2 points per contest for a young Jackson squad that last week bounced back with two consecutive Western Conference South Division triumphs after going 0-3 in a non-league holiday tournament.
“All things considered, he’s progressing nicely,” Johnson said of Kingma, who has scored at least 11 points in nine of Jackson’s 10 games — consistency rarely seen from varsity veterans, let alone freshmen.
The next two weeks will reveal a lot about youthful Jackson, whose top four scorers are a freshman (Kingma), a sophomore (guard Ryan Todd) and two juniors (forwards Bryan Koch and David Sullivan). After playing tonight at Shorewood (1-5 Wesco South, 2-8 overall), Jackson (4-2, 5-5) plays three straight games against division contenders Edmonds-Woodway, Meadowdale and Mariner, who have a combined record of 25-5 and are the division’s best defensive teams.
If Jackson can stay close in those battles, it won’t hesitate to go to Kingma at the end. He proved he can make a clutch basket last week when he drilled a game-winning, 15-foot jump shot to lift Jackson past Mountlake Terrace, 55-53.
It was the first game-winner of Kingma’s high-school career. Based on his success so far, it probably won’t be his last.
Short and shorter
At 5 feet, 2 inches tall, Leah Tate is usually the shortest player on the court. But Friday night Tate, a senior point guard on the unbeaten Lake Stevens girls basketball team, had the rare perspective of looking down on her opponent. She often went head-to-head against Oak Harbor’s Cheyenne Tubo, a 4-foot-11 guard. Tate (five points, five assists) and her teammates outplayed Oak Harbor, winning 47-36.
During warmups, Lake Stevens players anticipated the Tate versus Tubo matchup. “We actually talked about that before the game. ‘Oh, hey — you’re not the shortest one on the court!’” said Lake Stevens guard Alona Personius.
Tate’s teammates tease the diminutive pass-first player about her size, but it’s all in good fun, Personius said: “We love her. She’s very unselfish.”
Lake Stevens (6-0 Wesco North, 10-0 overall) has a big game tonight. The Vikings play at Snohomish (6-0, 8-2). The teams are tied for first place.
Wesco wrestlers take on Japan
Wrestling is truly an international sport, and tonight many elite Wesco competitors will prove it by battling a team of traveling stars from overseas. Snohomish teammates Brad Perry, Sam Ottow and Stefan St. Marie are among local standouts who will participate against high-school age wrestlers from the Japanese National Team in a 7 p.m. meet in the old Snohomish gym. Tickets are $5 for adults and students, and $2 for children and senior citizens.
Different sport, different role
An uncommonly dominant athlete on the football field, Edmonds-Woodway’s Tony Heard is now an unheralded role player on the basketball court. In late November the junior tailback/linebacker was named 2007-2008 Gatorade Washington Football Player of the Year after rushing for 2,238 yards and 31 touchdowns.
But these days Heard is a reserve post who averages 1.2 points and has appeared in six of 11 games for the 9-2 Warriors boys basketball team.
Although Heard’s impact varies greatly from football to basketball, his attitude remains outstanding, said E-W boys basketball coach Gail Pintler, who praised Heard’s consistent effort and team-first mentality.
