Walnut Grove’s girls Basketball Head Coach Darin Archer entered his first season free of worry all because of one particular player.
“I knew she was going to make me look a lot smarter than I am, so that’s a good piece to start with,” Archer said.
Junior Ellie Smith is already a two-time All-Stater. It’s a track record of success that’s been building for years.
“I started basketball when I was a little like most people do from here,” Ellie said. “Our program has just created an atmosphere where you know you are going to play basketball. All the people from the past have made it just feel like that’s just what I want to do and I look up to them.”
Ellie was the team manager from sixth to eighth grade, right as the program was in the midst of reaching 10 final fours in 11 years.
That means she learned from the best, including Walnut Grove’s all-time leading scorer.
“I guarded Faith Gilkey every day in practice so, I was forced to learn something or I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Ellie said.
She soaked up that knowledge and now leads her team just the way Faith once did: averaging 17 points and nearly 5 steals per game. But Ellie says she wants the team success that Faith’s team had as well.
“I don’t really look at the numbers, a win is a win,” Ellie said. “That’s all we are really looking for.”
Ellie is already leaving her prints on this notoriously excellent Lady Tiger team.
“Coach Henry has done such a great job with this program that it kind of feeds itself,” Archer said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s neat to be a part of. She is just next in a long line of very good players to come out of Walnut Grove.”
But this year, she’s at the front of the line trying to help this team of Lady Tigers get back to the final four.
