Senior Kara Stricklin shocked fans recently by breaking the record for most three pointers in a season. After only one year at Westside, the Bellevue East transfer made big contributions to the season. She made 77 three pointers this season which amounts to 231 points, not including free throws and two pointers. This record had been previously held for 17 years by Kaela Stratman, who had 67 three pointers. On top of this, she is tied with Westside’s Quinn Weidemann for best free throw percentage at 87%.
Her impact is not only exclusive to the team, but also to all of class A. She ranks high in several categories amongst her competitors. For class A, she is second in three pointers and second in free throws made at 85. She is also 8th in scoring with 16.5 points per game and 6th in 3-point percentage at 43%.
Stats and ranking can only say so much about an athlete. At any level one has to have the mindset to improve and better yourself. Stricklin believes that she possesses this mindset and it helped her get to this spot today.
“Mainly just consistently making shots,” Stricklin said. “Trying to find easy ways to score like cutting to the basket, offensive rebounds, stuff like that, making the game easier for myself. I always try to show up with a positive attitude and do my best to positively impact the team.”
Coach Steve Clark agrees with Stricklin and understands the importance of her attitude towards improving
Kara is very dedicated in everything that she does,” Clark said. “She has always been the first one to be at whatever we are doing. Be it practice, a meeting, an off site event, just very punctual and hard working. She is very competitive and elevated our play on the court. We saw Kara grow in her relationships with her teammates.”
This level of athleticism has been long in the making. Stricklin has been playing for the majority of her life and thinks this has helped lead toward where she is today.
“I started playing in fourth grade,” Stricklin said. “I just kind of stuck with it all throughout like middle school and then in high school. Since then I have been working at it and getting better for the past four years. I feel like this has been my best year in high school.”
Seniors who play with a team for all four years of high school slowly begin to take a leadership role. For Kara, her senior year is her first year playing for Westside which caused, to an extent, her to start over socially.
“I think they view me as a leader,” she said. “I’m someone they look to when they don’t really know what to do. They know they can come and ask me questions about things. That I will have the answer for them.”
Clark also thinks Kara has taken a major role on the team by showing her teammates what it takes and always leading by example.
“Kara came in with the ability to be a scorer,” Clark said. “She brought some toughness to our team. She has always shot a high percentage and to see her still shoot over 40% from 3 with the increased attempt was a testament to her abilities.”
It’s every athlete’s dream to join their school’s record book. Looking back on the night she broke the record, Stricklin is proud of her accomplishments.
“It was fun to do something like that,” Stricklin said. “I was pretty proud of myself for breaking the record. I have a lot of pride for this team and it meant a lot to me to be able to perform like I did in one of my last games.”
