Macks Creek’s all-time leading scorer India Willis doesn’t just pile up the points. She does a little bit of everything for the Lady Pirates. “She can fill any role for me I need her to,” said Kodey Weaver, Macks Creek’s head coach. “She’s a great rebounder. She’s a great passer. She can guard a guard. If I need her to be big she can guard a post.”
India’s career stats tell the story. She recently scored her 2000th point. And she’s closing in on her 250th assist, 500th steal, and 1,000th rebound. Coach says she’s like a Swiss army knife. “You’ve gotta go with the pocket knife,” Weaver said. “She’s gonna dagger you a couple of times.”
When they need her, she’s always ready to bail her team out. Because bailing is a strong skill set for India. “She’s a farm girl,” Weaver said. “So she has horses and stuff. It adds to her strength as well. She’s so strong because she’s always throwing hay bails all summer. She takes every challenge by the reigns.”
Yes, the reigns. Literally. “We breed horses,” said India, a senior on the team. “Performance horses for barrel racing. We’ve got to get up every morning. Especially when they’re in breeding season.”
And breeding season is not at a very basketball-friendly time. “Around February and March,” India said. “At the most important time.”
It hasn’t stopped the team’s country-strong leader from captaining this Lady Pirate ship to hardware each of the past two seasons. But doing it all isn’t always easy. “Like when we went to Liberal last year, which is three hours away,” India said, with a laugh.
That day in the state tournament started very early. “Probably 5 or 6 AM,” India said, with a laugh. “Wake up, take care of the horses. And then get ready for basketball and leave. And get back around midnight and take care of them again.”
Even though Macks Creek’s season ended at the hands of a Columbia-bound Bulldogs squad that day, India still scored 31 points. Perhaps this year breeding season comes with a berth to the Final Four.
