a look at kenedi bradley and other top players in sectional doubleheader

Tom Keegan
onwardtrojans.com

The DAC played its boys games Thursday night, clearing the deck even for basketball fans who didn’t find the women’s game when Caitlyn Clark was all the rage at the University of Iowa to check out a pair of high school girls sectional semifinals tonight at Chesterton.
It will be interesting to see how many basketball fans decide at the last-minute to come tonight for a sectional doubleheader, when more talented girls basketball players will grace the Chesterton floor than on any other night of the year.
Chesterton (14-8 overall, 4-3 in DAC, fourth) faces Merrillville (15-6, 5-2, third) at 6 p.m. Valparaiso (16-7, 7-0, first) vs. Portage (10-12, 2-5, sixth) follows, tipping off at an estimated 7:30.
Five girls playing in the doubleheader average in double figures. A quick look at those five players, starting with Chesterton’s leading scorer, then moving to two players from Valparaiso and two from Merrillville:
Kenedi Bradley, 5-7, Chesterton junior: Averages 14.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.2 steals.
An All-DAC selection as a freshman and sophomore, Bradley has blossomed into a more complete, under control player less prone to foul trouble and more versatile as a scorer.
Bradley made 27% of her 3-pointers last season and is shooting 35% from beyond the semi-circle this season.
“Like any point guard, your job is to make everyone else on the team better and you have to know when to put the team on your back, and Kenedi’s done a good job with that,” first-year Chesterton coach Candy Wilson said. “She’s been growing. She’s very coachable, very coachable. You can get on her and she doesn’t crawl into a hole.”
Bradley’s speed stands out on a basketball court, regardless of the level of competition. She finished fifth in the state in the 100 meters as a sophomore and looks even faster than a year ago on the basketball court, faster, yet not hurrying as much.
Bradley leads more with encouragement than tough love. When a teammate misses a shot and hangs her head, Bradley urges her to keep shooting.
“I’m doing what the seniors did for me when I was a freshman because being on varsity as a freshman was a big thing,” Bradley said. “They didn’t let me get in my head, always pushed me to do my best and just play. I feel like I’m trying to do my best to do that. If their shots aren’t falling, I tell them to keep shooting. It helped me when Ciara Bonner (Class of 2024) did that for me.”
If ever a point guard is going to light up a teammate it’s when that teammate fails to come toward a pass and the defender steps in to intercept it.
Not even then, Kenedi?
“No,” she said. “I don’t really yell at people.”
Leaders have to be true to themselves, stay within their personalities. The leadership has to be natural, not copied, and Wilson likes the way Bradley leads.
“She’s not pretentious and those are your best kids,” Wilson said. “The ones who know what they’ve got to do, they’re unselfish, they’re nice kids. And I’ve been very fortunate to work with kids the last year here and the last several years at both schools. That’s a big commodity.”
The most talented and accomplished among the unpretentious leaders Wilson has coached is:
Lillian Barnes, 5-10, Valparaiso junior: Averages 23.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 4.7 steals. Is being recruited by multiple Big Ten schools and like Bradley has made huge leaps as a 3-point shooter in her junior season.
Barnes has been coached by a Chesterton graduate and former basketball player all three seasons at Valpo. Wilson was her coach the first two years, former Merrillville coach Kelly Kratz this season.
The leap in 3-point shooting from the rival school’s top players coming in their junior seasons is something Wilson has seen numerous times, and she doesn’t think physical maturation is the issue.
“The maturity, the mentality is a big part of it. In AAU, a lot of it is the one-on-one stuff, which is important, but the along with the finishing you have to have your 3-point shot, you have to have your mid-range game and most of them at a younger age with AAU, it’s take it to the basket,” Wilson said. “Both those players are good at both those other things and they had to use it more and now they are.”
Barnes, also like Bradley, is exhibiting better defensive discipline as a junior by not getting into as much foul trouble. But the biggest difference is her improvement as a 3-point shooter, lifting her percentage.
Barnes, like Bradley, also is exhibiting better defensive discipline as a junior, not fouling as much. Barnes shot 27% from 3 as a sophomore, 41% this season. Most high school teams can’t boast two shooters with a 3-point percentage in the 40s, but Valpo can.
Cadynce Clark, 5-7, Valparaiso junior: Averages 11 points, 2.7 reboudns, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals. Another, more subtle lift in 3-point shooting from a junior, although more subtle than those of Bradley and Barnes because she didn’t have as far to come. Still, the improvement from 33% to 41% is significant. The problem with the defense collapsing on Barnes as she drives to the hoop is that she always knows where Clark is on the floor and Clark has the soft shooting touch from long range to make defenses pay. Forgive Chesterton Hall of Famer Jack Campbell, the winngest coach in Chesterton history and a former Big Ten batting champion at Indiana, for cheering for the guard in green and white. Clark is Campbell’s granddaughter.
Kylie Wells, 5-10, Merrillville senior: Averages 16.6 points, six rebounds and two steals a game. She missed most of her sophomore season with an Achilles injury, but has come back strong the past two seasons for the Pirates, earning All-DAC honors as a junior.
Made things difficult for the Trojans in every aspect of the Jan. 10 game won by the Pirates, 51-40 victors. Totaled 26 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Wells was a factor, but far from the only one, in Chesterton amassing 29 turnovers in the Jan. 10 game.
Malika Jenkins, 5-6, Merrillville sophomore averages 13.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.9 steals. Has the quickness to get to the lane and create scoring opportunities for herself and others and is a
disruptive defender. Jenkins is the team’s top 3-point shooter in terms of volume (140 on the season) and accuracy (33%).