Westside’s Odvody reaches 1,000 point milestone

Westside’s Tate Odvody reached a milestone on the basketball court last weekend. The senior surpassed the 1,000 point mark with 13 points against Bellevue East on Friday, Jan 6. Then the Warrior shooting guard put up a season high 24 points against No. 5 Millard North on Saturday, Jan. 7. Odvody knew he had to focus on the matchup with the defending state champs, after reaching 1,000 points in his high school career.

“I was grateful.” Odvody said, “I kind of had to keep a short memory because we had this big game today, so I’m just grateful and super happy that I’m here.”

Odvody, who describes himself as a shooting guard, averages 15.8 points per game this season. Tate is a college commit to Colorado Christian College. He transferred from Elkhorn South after his freshman year, since then he has been a three-year starter for the Warriors. Odvody knocked down a couple of three-pointers to start off the game against Millard North.

“My teammates set me up well,” Odvody said. “I was open, they did their job by hitting me when I was open and I just knocked them down.”

The Warriors fell to top-ranked Bellevue West in the semifinals of the Metro Holiday tournament by 79-52, which snapped an eight game winning streak for the Warriors. Westside came back and defeated Bellevue East and Millard North to raise their record to 10-2.

“After the Holiday tournament, I felt like a lot of people doubted us,” Odvody said. “I think coming out here and really making a statement was good for us. We worked really hard at practice this week. We were gritty, that’s what it came down to and that’s what I said last night.”

Head Coach Jim Simons, who celebrated his 100th win against Millard North, had a lot of praise for his All-State shooting guard..

“Tate is just a really, really, really talented scorer,” Jim Simons said.“He’s got a really high skill level and hee works incredibly hard at it. He might be as hard of a worker as anybody I’ve had around. It’s hard to beat Jadin Booth’s work ethic, but Tate, ever since he was a little kid, you can’t get him out of the gym. To the point, sometimes, of exhaustion. He works, and he works, and he works, and the skill level that he has is really indicative of that work. To get an opportunity to score 1,000 points is a really significant milestone. It just doesn’t happen a lot in high school basketball. It shows that you were good enough to play a lot throughout your career and that you have a high skill level. We’re proud of him and we’re happy that he’s able to get the recognition for all his hard work.”

The Warriors have their work cut out for them, and continue to have a tough stretch of games, including a matchup against second-ranked Gretna on Thursday, Jan.12.

“It’s a difficult stretch for us,” Simons said. “Last Saturday, we were at Bellevue West, the number one team in the state, this Saturday at Millard North. Gretna’s really good. It’ll be a challenge in how they play. It will be a big atmosphere, as it was last year. But you want to play good people. It makes us better. Gretna’s really good and disciplined and they play really good at home.”

Gretna’s only loss was to Creighton Prep in the Metro Holiday tournament and they will be a challenge for the Warriors.

“They’re a really together group.” Odvody said, “We’re gonna have to work hard in practice and prepare really well. We’re gonna work hard.”

The Warriors will play at Gretna on Thursday with the tip off at 7:15 p.m.