Playing for Gillette College in the US national junior college competition, the former St Hilda’s Collegiate forward has been named in the All-Region IX North team. The honour came just months after she fractured her fibula while playing for the Otago under-23 side in New Zealand.
"I was completely taken by surprise and was blown away that I had been selected along with three other players from my team," Richards (19) told the Otago Daily Times from Gillette, Wyoming.
"This is the most number of players the Gillette College women’s basketball team has ever had selected."
That seemed a long way off in August when she arrived in the US with her leg in a cast. A tough rehabilitation programme saw her miss the team’s pre-season scrimmages and trainings as she learnt to run again and regained her range of motion.
"It was such hard work and I truly felt like I wasn’t progressing quickly enough. I had to be able to jump on one leg — my right — before they would let me back on the court again."
However, she made it back in time for the first pre-season game and has appeared in every match since. Scoring 9.2 points per game and grabbing 6.1 rebounds, she has proven efficient and is shooting at an impressive 52.9% from the field. Those numbers have risen as the season has progressed and she has scored in double digits in the majority of her games since the new year. Most notable was her performance against Central Wyoming, in which she scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Richards’ twin sister, Brittany, is also on the team and has chipped in with a handy 4.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
It had been full-on juggling basketball with study, particularly on road trips. Those trips involved travel to several states, including a 26-hour bus ride back from Tuscon, Arizona.
The team had a rough start but had notched some big wins of late. It had a 21-win, eight-loss record heading into its regional tournament, which would begin on March 9. If it won there it would go to the NJCAA national tournament in Texas, beginning on March 20.
Otago’s other college basketball players are wrapping up their regular seasons too. Junior college guard Joe Cook-Green’s Northwest Florida State is ranked third in the nation and has a chance of winning the national championship. Meanwhile Richie Rodger, at Southeast Community College, has helped his team to a 17-13 record.
NCAA division one big man Sam Timmins has averaged 3.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for the University of Washington and has started in 16 games. The team has struggled in a strong Pac-12 and has its final regular season game tomorrow against USC.In the women’s division one competition, former Otago player Tylah King, daughter of Nuggets great Leonard King, has gone at 4.2 points and one rebound per game for the University of Pacific.
