Crown Point coach Chris Seibert said freshman Ava Richie “is only starting to scratch the surface of her potential” with all of the work she’s put into her game.
Seibert joked the 5-foot-6 point guard “really doesn’t have a choice” about spending the time because “basketball’s definitely in the blood.”
Make no mistake, though, Richie has a passion for the game.
“I love playing, and I love playing with this team,” she said.
Indeed, it might be odd otherwise, given her background.
Richie’s father, Nate, starred at Lake Central, graduating in 2000, and played at Western Michigan and Drake. Richie’s uncle Aaron graduated from Bellmont in 2005 and played at Central Michigan and IPFW. Richie’s uncle Austin was an Indiana All-Star and led the state in scoring at Lowell in 2011, when Nate Richie was in his first of four seasons as the coach. Austin Richie then played at Western Michigan.
“At times, it’s pressure with my family,” Ava Richie said. “But it’s fun. I enjoy doing it.”
Seibert, who is in his 10th season as Crown Point’s coach, knows the Richie family well, including Ava’s sister Ahna, a sixth grader, and brother Maddox, a fourth grader.
“She’s grown up around the game,” Seibert said of Ava Richie. “Nate’s been coaching in our youth program and in our middle school programs for as long as I’ve been here. Ava and her sister Ahna and her brother Maddox just have grown up in the gyms.”
Ava Richie, whose grandfather Adrian also is a coach and longtime principal, has been carving her own path. She has made an immediate and immense impact for the Bulldogs (5-3, 1-0). Entering their Duneland Athletic Conference game against Portage on Friday night, Richie was averaging 15.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.6 steals. She was leading the team in each category except for rebounds, where sophomore forward/center Ivy Henderson leads.
Richie has taken her success in stride.
“I’m just staying consistent,” she said. “I’m trying to learn what my coaches tell me and do what they say.”
Richie said she wasn’t quite sure what to expect entering high school.
“As a freshman, I definitely was scared coming in because it’s a big transition,” she said. “But I think I was prepared pretty well.
“It’s definitely a faster pace. I feel like playing AAU over the summer has helped. It’s definitely harder, but I’m getting used to it. You just have to be in condition.”
Seibert figured Richie would be up to the task.
“We’ve obviously seen her play a lot, play a ton over the last seven or eight years,” he said. “But you just don’t know what varsity basketball’s going to look like. You can be very skilled and you can play the best competition possible in AAU. But it’s very different in the high school game when teams are scouting you and when teams are game-planning against you.
“We knew coming in that what we were going to see was the physicality, them running numerous defenders at her, seeing various coverages that maybe she hasn’t seen at different levels. That mental side of the game was the stuff that we really tried to talk about and prepare her for just as much as the physical side. She was very well prepared for the physical side going into it.”
Richie headlines a young team that also starts Henderson, who missed most of last season with an injury, and sophomore forward Ava Punak, who played on the junior varsity team last season. Two other freshmen and two other sophomores play significant minutes.
Seibert praised the senior trio of guard Gia Gagianas, guard Gabi Eberhart and guard Jill Brown for being “wonderful” in how they’ve “taken all of these young kids under their wings.”
It didn’t take any convincing for Brown to welcome Richie with open arms.
“She’s brought a lot of spirit and fight and effort,” Brown said. “When she’s around, everyone’s just happier. She’s a very happy person, and on the basketball court, just very, very good stuff. It’s a lot to be a freshman to come into a varsity program where there are 18-year-olds you’re playing against, like adults, and she’s just handled it so well.
“She’s handled the pressure very, very well. She never gets nervous, and she’s a very, very good teammate. Her leadership for a freshman is insane, just very, very good for someone so young.”
Seibert is reluctant to compare players. But in terms of developing one’s game, he did mention Richie in the same breath as former star Jessica Carrothers, whose illustrious career included the 2021 Class 4A state title.
“At 5-foot-5, 5-foot-6, she’s incredibly athletic and incredibly quick,” Seibert said of Richie. “But there’s 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3 at the rim, so it’s working on that midrange game, working on the floaters, where before at the lower levels she could always get to the rim and finish.
“She obviously grew up in a basketball household, and she grew up watching Jessica play, and obviously that was Jessica’s game. The 15-footer was a layup for Jess. So I know she’s grown up watching the effectiveness of that shot, and we’ve talked a lot about that, just trying to add that as another level to the game, so when she can’t get to the rim, she can utilize that as well.”
Seibert, who hopes Richie and Henderson can grow into a combination at least approaching the heights of Carrothers and Lilly Stoddard, did allow for the drawing of at least one parallel between Richie and Carrothers.
“Ava’s in that mold in that she’s a complete player,” Seibert said.
Richie’s presence and performance permeate the team.
“The greatest compliment you can give to a point guard is that you make others around you better, and there’s no question Ava makes everybody else on the court better,” Seibert said. “She’s a complete player to the point where she can really rebound well for her size, and she’s very good on the defensive end. She can shoot it, she can drive and really can do a lot of things that impact a game even if it’s not just scoring.
“We’re asking a ton of a 14-year-old. It’s a lot. But she has really, really done fantastic so far this year of stepping up to each challenge, and even when she’s struggled, not letting it carry over to the next play or the next quarter or the next game. Just responding to that and moving on and using that next-play mentality has really benefited her. I’ve been really proud of her mental toughness so far this year.”
