Kristin Brice has used her height as an offensive asset throughout her basketball career.
“I’ve always been tall,” said Brice, a sophomore marketing communication major. “[I’ve] always towered over everyone.”
This season, the starting forward has averaged over 15 points and eight rebounds per game—ranking in the top 10 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) in both of these categories. Head Coach Bill Gould had envisioned Brice performing well in her second season, and said he is happy with the results so far.
“Kristin has really done incredibly well for us,” said Gould. “She had a nice year last year and I thought she would do well this year as well, but she has really just exceeded expectations.”
Brice has picked up her scoring as of late, including contributing 24 points in the team’s win over Suffolk on Saturday. As the team’s leading playmaker, she has, over the course of the year, become the “go-to” option for her teammates.
“She is our top scorer, and we have confidence that if we get Kristin the ball, it’s going in the hoop,” said Macy Day, a sophomore marketing communication major.
During Saturday’s game, Emerson ended the first half down by five points, but rallied in the second and ended with a last-second, game-winning shot by senior captain Shannon Norton.
Brice has not just helped herself on offense—her talent, said Gould, has opened up the rest of the team’s capabilities.
“It just gives you such a great option when you know you have someone that can put up big points in any game that she ever plays,” said Gould. “It just allows the rest of the team a little more freedom to have a little bit of space when the other team has to guard her with at least one-and-a-half to two people.”
Despite all of the praise, Brice credits the team’s success to its cooperation.
“I think going [into games] other teams look at who are the top scorers, so they try to shut those people down,” Brice said. “I think that it’s good that so many people on our team, including people off the bench, have the ability to score.”
Yet Brice will have to make some improvements, according to Gould, if she wants to sustain her success.
“She needs to get a little bit stronger. Especially now that she is a focal point of the offense, defenses are going to key in on her,” said Gould. “They’re going to try to be physical with her, bump her, make it tough for her.”
With these adjustments, Norton said Brice could be the team’s best player by next season.
“I think next year Kristin could be our top player. She’s already one of the top right now,” said Norton, a visual and media arts major.
This year the Lions are 3-4 in the GNAC, but based on the team’s recent performance, both Brice and Gould think the Lion’s can be successful in postseason games.
“I would just love to go far in the playoffs, especially this year,” said Brice. “I think that [the Suffolk game] just showed that we have the ability to do so.”