A Decade of Dribbling: Our Girls Basketball Coverage

♪♪

Dowling Catholic's Caitlin Clark will be

talked about in Iowa for years to come.

♪♪

She has an ability with her ball handling I

think to pretty much get a shot whenever she wants

to.

Ranked 4th in ESPN's 2020 recruiting class, the six

foot senior is already well-known outside the

state.

Definitely right away you notice that she was just a

special talent on the floor.

♪♪

She sees the entire floor one step

ahead.

♪♪

And Caitlin uses that step to score --

To compete --

And if she has it her way, to win.

She showed that right here on the living room floor

playing Candyland.

She wanted to win.

She just has a drive in her that I do think is how

she is born and it's part of her core makeup.

♪♪

Caitlin Clark was born into an athletic

family.

Her father Brent played baseball and basketball at

Simpson College in Indianola.

And her older brother Blake plays football just

up the road in Ames.

There's a lot of boys that were in his class running

around here in the neighborhood, so if she

wanted to hang with the boys, so to speak, she had

to keep up and she had to do her part athletically

if she wanted to play.

And moving from the driveway, to the Dowling

gymnasium, was no stretch for the Clarks.

Well, her family has been part of Dowling for years.

Her mom's dad was my high school football coach here

at Dowling many years ago.

And Bob Nizzi always had a catchphrase, he said, play

with reckless abandon.

Well, his granddaughter, Caitlin Clark, is playing

with reckless abandon, but she has everything in

perspective.

I think it comes pretty natural to me.

When I was growing up it was kind of like, should I

shoot this?

Should I make this pass?

Just because your skill set is getting better and

better.

But for me I think it has just become so natural

that I don't even think about passes I make, shots

I take, it's just like part of my game and what I

do.

♪♪

Here, I honestly just think instinctively I

threw a behind the back pass to Grace and it

worked out well.

That girl came away and took away my right hand so

it just kind of happened and I knew Grace was in

the corner so I kind of just threw it.

I was like, all right, that's a good play, that

could probably go in the highlight film for next

game.

♪♪

Go ahead.

For us, Caitlin really can make our job as coaches

very easy.

We haven't had to put in a press break in four years.

She just can dribble through traffic, two

defenders, three defenders, she definitely

can create her own shot.

The step back, just offensively she can find

ways to get the ball where she wants it to go.

I always have said on our broadcasts, we're kind of

in Caitlin's world and we're all a part of it.

♪♪

(whistle blows)

And Caitlin's world keeps

expanding.

♪♪

A letter came in the spring of her freshman

year. Yes.

And it sat on the dining room table for a little

while because we just didn't get to it.

And then finally she opened it up and showed it

to us and we were like, oh my goodness.

Caitlin brought home two gold medals as part of the

U16 and U19 USA National Teams, representing her

country in Thailand and Argentina.

When they play the national anthem it's just

so cool looking up at the flag and hearing that and

knowing you're wearing a USA jersey.

I don't think there's anything better.

Back in West Des Moines, Caitlin led the state in

scoring twice, averaging more than 32 points per

game her junior and senior seasons.

She's well over 2,000 points.

That is a Dowling record.

Rebounds, over 500, that's a Dowling record.

Three-pointers made in the game, 13, and she scored

60 against Mason City a year ago.

In 2018, Caitlin rubbed elbows with NBA superstar

Kevin Durant after winning the Nike Nationals with

her AAU squad, the All-Iowa Attack.

In 2019, she was Iowa's Gatorade Player of the

Year.

And in 2020, Caitlin was named a McDonald's

All-American, one of only 24 players nationwide.

A lot of attention for a young person.

When you start getting letters I think from a

Notre Dame or a Duke or a UCLA or an Oregon, you

know, it makes you realize she's got a lot of

opportunity here and you're really going to

have to figure a way to control it too.

At home she is still Caitlin and --

♪♪

She just loves to play I think.

The accolades are wonderful and I think they

come with obviously someone who puts that sort

of time in and then is obviously blessed with

some God given talent and instinctive ability.

But I still think the sky is the limit for her.

I've been very impressed with how Caitlin and her

family has handled all of the recruiting.

Before her freshman year I remember getting a phone

call from an assistant coach of a Division I team

that was ranked top 5 pre-season, before her

freshman year.

And so it was one of those, wow, okay this is

the level that we're on.

It was hard for me just because I had so many

options that seemed so good, it was hard to

choose one from the other.

In the end, ESPN's 4th ranked national recruit

decided the best opportunity for her to

play her game was just two hours east on Interstate

80.

I always knew I wanted to play right away.

I thought that was really important.

I really got along well with their coaching staff

and I think they have really good players.

They'll make me better.

We'll have a chance to be really, really successful.

I've had a lot of people come just out of the

woodwork to say how happy they are that she chose to

stay in Iowa and kind of be one of them, you know,

and someone that they can follow easily.

It's a special thing.

We're fortunate that they're close to home and

we're in a place where we can travel and see and

still be a part of it.

I think that's part of it is letting go, it's hers

and it always has been hers.

I think this next step is just another piece.

♪♪

Seeing how Iowa supports girls basketball,

it's not like that everywhere else.

So I think that was really important for me because

who doesn't like playing in front of a lot of fans?

I love that.

♪♪

I think at Iowa I'll have a good chance to

do something special.

♪♪

Funding for, In Their Words, is provided by Musco Lighting

and the Pella Rolscreen Foundation.

I'm Audi Crooks and I play basketball at Bishop

Garrigan High School.

I think I first really got into basketball,

probably around the first grade, just through Rec League in YMCA League,

I tried a lot of different sports as a kid, but I always grew up, you know,

hearing about my mom, she was a past state participant here at Bishop Garrigan

and my dad was a good player also on that Fort Dodge team.

So it's definitely been,

you know, in the back of my mind and just hearing it as a child, you know,

you're going to be a ball player, and I just kind of stuck with the sport.

I think as a kid, I was pretty decent, but I don't think anybody

would have thought that I would progress to the player that I am today.

My mom always made sure that we had a hoop in the driveway,

so her and I would just go out and play pig and horse and stuff,

and it really started to kind of

pick up in junior high and seventh grade when I got on the AAU circuit

and learned some things, picked up some skills, kind of got the basics for

my mom and just taught myself and took off from there.

I am currently six-three, and as a child,

I was always the tallest in my class, so I've been used to being pretty tall.

I don't think I really noticed a spurt, but I know in junior high

I was probably about six-one so I've always been up here.

I broke the state record for

points scored as a freshman with 626 points.

Right now I'm averaging right around 23 points per game,

twelve rebounds per game.

My mother

currently owns the best field goal percentage

in career and I have the best field goal percentage in a season.

So I have to wait till I'm a senior to see if I'm going to pass her up.

And that's definitely,

you know, definitely some trash talking at home about that

and seeing if I'm going to pass her up and knock her off the board.

I think Michelle's enjoying the last couple a year

and a half of having her picture on the thing .

State at the end of the year is just where every team wants to be.

And I think it's a blessing

to have been able to been there, both my freshman and my sophomore year,

and we're having a pretty good campaign this year.

State is just a really fun, really cool experience.

Just playing in that big arena and knowing that you know

what you've been working for towards this season has paid off.

"Shot by Audi Crooks." My freshman and sophomore year both

ended up with state runner up trophies, which isn't a ship,

but it's still a blessing, and I think we performed really well

down there in Des Moines.

So I've been

recruited by all of the D1 in state schools

by some schools on the East Coast, West Coast,

down south, up north.

The next level is tough, and so as a player,

you have to evolve and change your game and step it up,

whether that be developing more range or being more comfortable,

solidifying post moves, expanding your basketball IQ,

all that's going to be necessary to be successful at the college level..

One thing that's always been really important to me is relationships.

So building a bond and finding,

you know, a school with that family atmosphere, that feeling of, you know,

people have your back Cause I'm definitely a people person.

I'm a talker.

Coach will testify to that during practice sometimes.

I also play volleyball and

I'm in track and I am in choir band and speech.

I really like just being involved because it gives you an opportunity

to learn about yourself and learn about new people and just meet

friends and branch out outside of just, you know, the basketball team.

Basketball has given me a lot in terms of relationships,

and it's taught me how to handle a lot of life's

lessons, such as adversity and learning to overcome obstacles

and to face challenges and just to persist.

"Number 55 Audi Crooks." My goal for this year

is to get back to Wells Fargo and to win a state championship.

Whenever I'm in school and I see some young girls in the hallway

they'll always come up to me

and ask me for high fives or ask me about the game tonight.

And it just means a lot to me

that I can contribute and bring attention to Bishop Garrigan basketball.

Not only that, but also to Iowa girls basketball and,

you know, the kind of movement that's going on with females in sports.

Funding for, in their words, is provided

by Musco Lighting, the sports lighting specialist,

providing lighting systems for you, your project and your community.

And by.

The Pella Rolscreen

Foundation is a proud supporter of Iowa PBS.

Pella windows and doors strives to better our communities

and build a better tomorrow.

Paul Yeager: Welcome to the

sports desk at the IPTV studio, and to another

episode of Teen Spotlight #IPTVSports.

I'm Paul Yeager.

Pocahontas Area's Elle Ruffridge is the reining

5-player scoring leader in Iowa girls basketball.

This small but mighty guard is a huge asset on

the floor, and she has the record-breaking stats to

prove it.

♪♪Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light.♪♪

♪♪What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight's last♪♪

♪♪gleaming.♪♪

I thought Elle said it right in a quote in the

paper today, there really was no plan to be this

kid.

Her whole intent when she came into basketball as a

high schooler was to try and win as many state

titles with this group of girls as she could.

And I think for her she has played with a little

bit of a chip on her shoulder because there

have been some people that have told her that she was

never going to be a major college basketball player.

She has proved a lot of people wrong.

(cheering)

(cheering)

♪♪

Elle Ruffridge:

It was around kindergarten when I really started

finding a passion for it because I was surrounded

by the 2005 team and they made it to state.

Brandon Ruffridge: We had a group of girls that just

got hot at the right time.

Elle was a kindergartner.

She actually got to sit on the bench with us.

She said from that day that she wanted to

experience that someday and that was something

that really drove her.

Karla Ruffridge: She wasn't going to let her

height ever be a factor in the game.

You've always told her there's always somebody

out there getting better each and every day and I

think that just sticks with her that there are

better players than Elle, but she doesn't like that.

Elle: This is my home away from home.

When I've had a bad day this is where I come and

it's my happy place, definitely where I get to

have my time.

In the summer I spend hours and hours just

constantly going through my shooting routines.

She has worked tremendously on her

shooting.

That's her art.

That's her craft.

Elle: After the Nevada loss I was frustrated in

my shooting performance.

The next day I came into the gym, I shot a thousand

3's and I made 859.

So I kind of let my anger out and got my rhythm

back.

♪♪

Robert Maske: You're not just building

shooting, you're building confidence.

When we talk about Elle and points, Elle's points

have gone up each year.

Her shot totals have really stayed about the

same, she's just more efficient.

That freshman year shooting almost 50%, now

she's shooting 59% from the field.

Her freshman year 36% from three, her senior year

right now 53% and the girl has got range.

She's got the green light anytime.

Tyce Ruffridge: Usually when I'm watching her

every shot she takes I'm thinking it's going in so

getting ready to cheer.

Shea Ruffridge: I've seen her put a lot of baskets

through the hoop so I'm kind of used to her making

30 points a game.

Elle: When I shoot it I think that every shot is

going to go in and when it doesn't I'm just like,

shoot.

Maske: One person no matter how good, it makes

it really hard to get to state, let alone to win

state.

We have that phenomenal athlete and then we have a

few more.

Not just for Elle but for Faith and Grace all three

of them are in the record books for assists and

steals, Grace is with rebounds, Faith is with

three-pointers.

And so that combination has put her obviously

where she's at with now all-time leading scorer

and the all-time leading assist girl in Iowa girls

basketball history, which I've done some research,

there has never been girls that have had that

distinction at the same time or even close.

Elle: We've been on this journey together for so

long.

Raising that championship trophy was something we've

always dreamed about.

Losing that game really taught us a lot of things

and kind of brought us closer together as a team.

They worked tirelessly because they wanted to

taste the championship and last year, 27 and 0,

knocking off Cherokee in one of the greatest games

in 5-on-5 history to get to the championship,

rematch against Nevada.

Pocahontas Area, they're the 3A champs!

And the rest is history.

Elle: We really came together and were like,

alright, we're not going to feel this again, next

year we're going to get it and by golly we did.

Elle: I'm really excited for the future.

I plan to attend Missouri State University and

continue my passion and love for the game.

It's going to be a huge adjustment to us all.

Yeah, there will be a definite gap.

Ever since she has been a little kid we've spent

just precious moments, lots of precious moments

that we've shared together on the basketball court.

(cheering)

Breaking the all-time scoring mark was

incredible for all of us.

(cheering)

It's just inspirational to all young

female athletes, big, small, whatever it is.

It was never the plan.

Congratulations on becoming the all-time

scoring leader.

Elle: This is just something I never

imagined.

When I was younger I looked up to those girls

and now for me to be the girl that girls look up

to, I want them to remember this, just like

I'm remembering this.

Hopefully one day one of those girls is trying to

break the record.

♪♪

Yeager: Elle finished her high school

career leading Pocahontas Area to the 2017 Class 3A

title.

We wish Elle good luck with her career at

Missouri State.

A reminder that IPTV Sports brings you live

championship action in softball, volleyball,

basketball and more.

Tune in to cheer on your favorite Iowa girl.

I'm Paul Yeager.

Thanks for joining me.