JAMESTOWN — When some high school seniors are making their decisions on where to go to college, they decide to go far from home while others decide to stay close to home. This year’s University of Jamestown women’s basketball team has three players who decided to take the latter option four years ago.

This year’s Jimmies squad has four seniors with three of them being from North Dakota. Jailyn Martinson is from Devils Lake, Kate Busek is from Fargo, and Hannah Hagel is from Carrington.

“It’s awesome. I know that our fans enjoy having players that they’ve seen in high school and followed through North Dakota high school basketball and seeing them during their high school playoffs and knowing who they are and then coming to our team and joining us and being integral parts for four years,” Jimmies head coach Thad Sankey said. “… It helps the connection to our local communities. It helps our connection as we recruit North Dakota high school players that those high school girls can see the generation of North Dakota high school players in front of them be successful as college players for us. So that’s an exciting thing … a lot of satisfaction involved from their side and also their families get to stay connected.”

The Jimmies have two other players from North Dakota on the team — freshman Jayden Wiest from Mandan and sophomore Halle Crockett from Reile’s Acres.

“I think it’s super cool,” Busek said. “… It’s cool to see all the people that I’ve known my whole life or from different communities like Hagel’s and Jailyn’s just being able to pull together and see us all play together. So I think it’s really cool that the three of us are here and we can represent our cities all together.”

As of Nov. 18, the Jimmies were 3-1. In the first four games of the season, the Jimmies outscored their opponents 295-253.

“I think coming in with a new group and losing two key players last year was hard but I think we really have big key players now that make an impact,” Martinson said.

As one of four seniors, Hagel said she does not feel as much pressure to lead as she would if it was just her.

“I don’t feel pressure at all. Having a team like this where everyone contributes and works hard every day and puts in the effort and everyone can rely on each other is very helpful,” Martinson said.

As of Nov. 18, Hagel led the group of three North Dakotans with 6.0 points per game followed by Busek’s 5.3 and Martinson’s 2.0. Busek led the team with 6.0 rebounds per game just ahead of Hagel’s 5.5. Busek also led the team with 3.0 assists per game.

“They’ve made quite an impact and obviously we think of on-the-court impact and contributing and helping us win games,” Sankey said. “But I think the impact culturally that our seniors have made is pretty incredible and how our team competes and how we build relationships and the value that we have on each other is a great thing. Those women definitely play a big part in that.”

Sankey said the trio’s roles will need to be figured out before they can increase their scoring averages.

“Some of it is just getting a little bit more comfortable in their offensive roles and understanding where they can fill needs,” Sankey said. “Our offense is a little bit different this year and we made some adjustments and added a little bit more movement, cutting, screening and off-the-ball movement. So every time that happens it takes players just a little bit of time to adjust and understand where are their options to attack and be aggressive and also every team’s scoring balance is unique. So what’s the opportunity that our team needs them to fill.”

Despite leading in multiple statistical categories, Busek said her biggest contributions to the team don’t show up in a box score.

“I think I provide a lot of leadership to the team just being out there and being vocal and helping new players as they step into new roles,” Busek said. “I think that’s something that we always need and I’m happy to do it.”

All three players said they want to get back to the NAIA Tournament after making it to the Sweet 16 last year.

Hello,
My name is Max O’Neill. I am a Sports Reporter at The Jamestown Sun. I am a native New Yorker, who graduated from Ithaca College in 2020 with a degree in Television-Radio.