Prospect Spotlight: Lauren Blake (2022)
There are a few players in the sophomore class who have emerged this year but none more so than Indianola’s Lauren Blake. The sophomore wing has started to take off this season and has bumped up her scoring from 11.0 points a game to 15.0 points a game. She’s shooting the ball at a 40 percent rate this year as well only behind junior Kendall Clatt who is shooting an absurd 62.5 percent from the floor. Indianola sits at 4-2 prior to the winter break and they have a tough slate of games upcoming which includes dates with Lewis Central, Grinnell, and Dallas Center-Grimes.
“Our season is going pretty well,” Blake said. “We lost a tough game to Pella two weeks ago but we are working hard and excited to get another chance at them in January. We are playing a lot better as a team this year and I think we will keep getting better each game. When we are moving the ball and hitting shots we are a tough team to beat.”
Blake’s progression over the past year has been notable and I’ve seen it happen in three distinct phases. When I first saw Blake last year in the winter I thought that she was very projectable but needed to add some strength and start to finish better at the rim. This past summer she improved on all of that but I really noticed her athleticism. She was pretty much the most athletic kid on the floor, and that still holds true today. Now, after a game against Norwalk a few weeks ago where I saw her, she’s still very athletic, has added strength, finishes at the rim well, and is much better in transition. Blake is almost a completely different player than she was last year at this time and I don’t think she is close to her ceiling yet.
“I have been working hard on finishing and making smart decisions with the ball,” Blake said. “I think that is a big improvement in my game from last year till now. I have also been working on developing different shots so I can score in a variety of ways and be harder to guard.”
While I was talking to Blake about her game, she gave me what I think is one of the best basketball answers I have ever heard. She was talking about what she wants to continue to do within her game and I thought that it showed just how self aware she was of her game and others around her.
“I want to continue to stay aggressive and focus on making a good basketball play every time down the floor.”
This shows just how good of a teammate she is. To her it doesn’t matter if it is a basket, an assist, an offensive rebound, or even a good screen, she just wants to do whatever it takes to win. Blake understands that it is the little things that add up to wins and the team that makes the most good basketball plays each games usually win.
As she continues to play well I imagine that she will continue to gain more and more interest from colleges. She just had an unofficial visit to University of Missouri-Kansas City this past weekend. Blake really enjoyed herself on the visit and had great things to say after the visit.
“I watched them play a little and I talked to the coaches a little bit,” Blake said. “I really liked the campus and the gym was pretty legit. It was a cool experience.”
Indianola is focusing now on their goals to win conference and she notes that the Dallas Center-Grimes and Grinnell games are two that they are really going to have to focus on to beat. Blake says that they are putting in a lot of work as a team and are looking forward to seeing it pay off. It is evident that she is putting the work in individually on her game and Blake is going to see that start to pay off as well.
*Featured photo courtesy of Janel Anglick*