The Jackson High School girls basketball team has climbed to new heights the last two seasons.
A lot of that has to do with the lofty heights reached by Kristi Kingma, the team’s star guard.
With Kingma – then a sophomore – leading the way, Jackson made its first trip to the Class 4A state tournament in the 2005-06 season. It was a year in which she contributed approximately 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals a game.
This past season Jackson was even better, and so was Kingma. The Timberwolves won the Northwest District Class 4A championship and returned to the state tourney, where they came away with the eighth-place trophy. Kingma – now a junior – averaged around 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals a game.
The experience, said the 16-year-old Kingma, “was awesome. … It was so much fun to be a part of it. I loved it.”
Kingma, who has basketball bloodlines (her father is a former basketball All-American at Seattle Pacific University), learned the game when she was 4 years old. She had yet to reach her fifth birthday when she played in her first competitive game.
Over the years, she has blossomed into a terrific player, not only at Jackson, but also with the Spokane Stars, her AAU team. The Stars are the three-time defending champions of the Midnight Summer’s Madness national tournament, played at the University of Washington every year.
Speaking of the UW, that’s where Kingma is headed the year after next. In January, she accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the Huskies, starting in the fall of 2008.
Kingma, who is also an outstanding soccer player, is a do-everything athlete on the basketball court, as her rebounds, assists and steals statistics attest. She is terrific in the open court with the basketball, but she is foremost a scorer. Anywhere in the offensive end, from the 3-point line to the basket, she is a threat to put points on the board.
Moreover, she has effective range with her pull-up jump shot, which is something not commonly seen beyond 8 or 10 feet in high school girls basketball.
“I’ve worked really hard to develop my pull-up jump shot,” Kingma said, “and in the girls game you don’t see that very much anymore. All the players are becoming 3-point (set) shooters or people who can drive.
“But that’s what I spent most of my time working on over the summer. And now, from anywhere inside the 3-point line, I can take one dribble hard and explode up and get a jump shot off.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
