Thursday, February 25, 2010

IWU women's basketball spotlight: Hope Schulte


Junior Hope Schulte is one of just three Titans to start all 25 regular season games this year and, fittingly, one of three captains (along with Christina Solari and Stacy Arlis). She started all 31 games last year as well, and played in 28 of 29 games her freshman year.

Suffice to say that Schulte has been one of coach Mia Smith's most important players during her three-year career. And while her 8.5 points per game last season were nothing to sneeze at, she has dialed it up a notch this year: she is tied with Nikki Preston for the second-highest scoring average on the team with 11.3 points per game. She has been a consistent offensive presence, cracking double-digits in 15 of the team's 25 games.

But as good as Schulte is at the offensive end, she might be even better when the other team has the ball. She leads the team with 73 steals (nearly three per game), and has piled up five or more in five different games. Her long wingspan also gives her a unique ability to block shots on the perimeter--despite being a guard, she easily leads the team with 17 blocks. Also impressive given her position is that she's third on the team with 3.4 rebounds per game.

Schulte wears #32, and here's hoping that the team plays in at least that many games this year--their 32nd game would be a Final Four matchup.

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations to the Titans on winning their division again. On to the Final Four .. and more!

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