2020 Custer County All Area Team
Staples hopes to get Indians over the hump in 2020
BROKEN BOW - In the sport of basketball, it takes a certain type of player to be unselfish and try to get their teammates the ball rather than trying to pad their stats with points. While Kali Staples wouldn’t come out and tell you that she is unselfish, her stats don’t lie as the senior recorded 5.7 assists per game last season. The person who had the second-most on the team was averaging 1.4 per game.
“I definitely try to get people open and get them good shots and I am always trying to see what different ways I can get my teammates the ball for the open shot,” Staples said.
Besides being a great distributor of the ball for her team, she led the team with 5.3 rebounds per game. She also scored 8.2 points per game which was the third-highest total last season for the Indians.
Looking past the individual accolades, Staples helped the team experience a tremendous amount of success. They finished with a 23-3 record and won the Southwest Conference for the third straight season.
“It was really great to see all our hard work pay off and to see us do so great,” Staples said. “I think last year was really our first step in turning this program around.”
Despite all that Staples and the team accomplished, the one thing that evaded them was a trip to state for the first time since they won it all back in 2003. They fell short 5237 to Adam Central in the district final.
The team for the most part is returning a good chunk of the production from last season. The only player not back that was a big contributor to the team is Majesta Valasek.
“We lost a lot of great basketball players from last year, but we also have a lot of great players back,” Staples said. “We definitely will still be competing in every game and we are holding ourselves to the same expectations and trying to do just as great this season.”
Staples is also looking into ways that she can help her team get over the district final barrier and make it to state this season. One way she believes she can help improve her team is with her shot.
“I definitely want to improve my shot and getting to the hoop,” Staples said. “I also want to try and be one of the top scorers on the team this year.”
Staples and the rest of the Indians know what it takes to get to state, doing so the last two seasons in Volleyball and winning gold in golf this season. Now it’s time to take those successes from fall and make it happen on the basketball court this winter.
“I think we finally want to make that jump this year and get to state,” Staples said. “We also want to try and win our conference for the fourth year in a row.”
After high school Staples will continue her basketball career at Doane College in Crete. She plans on studying either business or education.