DILLON – It may feel like every week we bring you more and more about Montana Western’s Brianna King. Maybe it’s because she’s won not one, not two, not three, but six consecutive Frontier Conference player of the week awards for a grand total of seven this season. What’s separated King from her competition this year is her ability to make the most of her opportunities when teams pull out all the stops to slow her down.
“It’s a combination of her being really consistent, and that’s huge when you have a kid who’s getting the numbers that she’s getting, and doing it with the shot selection she’s doing it with is really important,” said head coach Lindsay Woolley.
With King constantly under pressure by opposing teams, if she can’t find a way to score, she’ll find ways to get the rest of her team involved.
“Coach gives me that all the time, he’s like the team kinda picks up off my energy, so when I’m doing good they kind of feed off my energy,” says King.
“When she’s on the floor, she’s a hard one-on-one guard, so they usually have to send help,” Woolley said. “It’s just a matter of her making the right decision out of it, whether it’s pull-up jumper, get to the rim or find somebody else.”
And her teammates couldn’t be happier to be on the court alongside her.
“It’s a lot of fun. She’s just so talented and it’s so fun playing with her, because, I mean she creates stuff for herself, but she also creates stuff for us,” said senior guard Cierra Lamey
With winning this award six weeks in a row, it puts King as a front runner for the NAIA player for the year award. But when she hits the hardwood, that becomes the last thing on her mind.
“It’s definitely something I’ve thought about, but I don’t let it (affect me),” King said. “I don’t think about it when I’m playing. I don’t go out and think, ‘Oh, I’ve got to score this many points so I can get player of the year.’ I just want to play good for my team.”
Regardless, what she has accomplished now is something the Frontier Conference has rarely seen.
