You can’t blame a coach for momentarily forgetting X’s and O’s to simply admire the entertainers.
“It’s fun to watch great players play against each other,” said Corey Gibb, head coach of the Arlington High girls basketball team. “You just kind of sit back and enjoy the show.”
Get ready for the feature presentation.
Michael V. Martina/Herald
The Western Conference North Division is loaded with slashing, scoring, swiping showstoppers who will make the 2005-06 season, as Gibb said, the Year of the Point Guard.
Leading the way are Arlington’s Randi Richardson, a senior; Snohomish’s Daesha Henderson, a senior; and Monroe’s Sarah Morton, a junior. The trio made lasting impressions on teammates, coaches and each other over the past few years. Now the highly skilled guards are poised to blow the roofs off Wesco North gyms and shoulder a significant load in their teams’ battles to make the postseason.
Richardson, The Herald’s 2005 All-Area Player of the Year, is the best pure scorer of the bunch. Last season, she averaged 20.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.9 steals to help Arlington reach the district playoffs. Richardson, who will play collegiately for the University of San Francisco, always has been a prolific shooter, but last year she made huge strides in defense, setting up teammates and in leadership. She keeps her teammates focused – even if it requires stopping practice in the middle of a drill, as she’s been known to do.
“Randi wants to leave a legacy of someone who gets along with her teammates,” Gibb said. “She just understands what’s going on. She’s running the show.”
Richardson is tough to rattle, Snohomish coach Ken Roberts said: “Her decision-making has been a lot better. She was always able to score, but last year she handled the ball well and took care of it.”
Roberts has an efficient point guard of his own at Snohomish. Henderson led the Panthers in steals each of the past three seasons and is known as one of the most intense defenders in the conference. Her assist-to-turnover ratio was better than 2-to-1 last season. She’s also a capable scorer (10 points per game last year) and her career field-goal percentage is above 50 percent.
“She’s a strong competitor, and that carries over to her team. She doesn’t like to lose,” Monroe coach Alan Dickson said of Henderson.
No joke. Snohomish has gone 66-12 during Henderson’s career and placed second and sixth at the Class 4A state tournament, respectively, the last two seasons. She recently accepted an athletic scholarship to play for Seattle Pacific University.
In ‘05-06, Henderson must fill a massive scoring void left by graduated Snohomish stars Sydney Benson, Tara Angell, Kristin Moore and Emily Cassidy. For that reason, Roberts said Henderson often will shift from point guard to shooting guard to provide an offensive spark.
“We’re gonna need her to step up as a scorer,” Roberts said of Henderson, who, like Richardson, has become a more vocal presence on her team.
Although Monroe’s Morton, a junior, is the youngest of the North’s talented point-guard trio, she might have the greatest potential. The lanky 5-foot-8 slasher already has received interest from Washington, Gonzaga, Florida State, Oregon and Stanford, according to Monroe’s Dickson. She made an immediate impact as a freshman (7.6 ppg, 3.1 assists per game, 2.6 steals per game) and got even better last season (9.8 ppg, 5.2 apg, 4.1 spg, 4.3 rebounds per game).
Morton, who sprouted several inches between her freshman and sophomore seasons, is skilled at dribbling with both hands and loves to attack the paint. Dickson compared her combination of classic and flashy skills to a cross between NBA legend John Stockton and current New York Knick and former Washington star Nate Robinson. If Morton develops a more consistent outside shot, she’ll become an outstanding player, Snohomish’s Roberts said.
So if you catch Richardson, Henderson and Morton on the court this season, expect plenty of breathtaking moves and gaudy statistics. But you also can appreciate another equally important quality that unites the accomplished trio.
“They’re all really positive,” Monroe’s Dickson said. “They have great attitudes and sportsmanship. They’re great representatives for their teams and their schools.”
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