Martin Attacks Goal

BENTONVILLE POINT GUARD AT HOME NEAR BASKET

Bentonville's Jordan Martin shoots as Greenwood's Brittany Branum guards during the game in Bentonville's Tiger Arena on Friday December 20, 2013.
Bentonville's Jordan Martin shoots as Greenwood's Brittany Branum guards during the game in Bentonville's Tiger Arena on Friday December 20, 2013.

BENTONVILLE - Jordan Martin loves being around the basket during games, and her statistics prove it.

The leading scorer on Bentonville’s girls basketball team has taken three-fourths of her shots near the basket or at least inside the lane through the first 11 games. She’s also there on defense as she leads the team with almost 7.5 rebounds per game.

Is Martin a post player? Not at all.

Instead, the 5-foot-8 junior is the Lady Tigers’ point guard, but that doesn’t aff ect her style of play. It’s one of the reasons Bentonville enjoys a 9-3 mark as it enters 7A/6AWest Conference play tonight at Van Buren.

“I have the mindset that I want to drive a lot,” Martin said. “I don’t think my outside shooting is on right now, and whenever I drive I get a lot of opportunities to shoot or kick it out. I like to get the ball and go.”

Her opportunities have been plentiful during the nonconference games, and she’s made the most of them. Martin averages 13.6 points per game and when she’s not hitting baskets, she’s spending plenty of time at the free-throw line, where she’s taken more than twice as many free throws than any of her teammates.

The slasher-type persona was exactly what Bentonville coach Tom Halbmaier envisioned for one of his most experienced players on a young Lady Tigers team this season. Only Kindal Coleman, Bentonville’s lone returning starter from last year’s team, had more game experience than Martin, who came off the bench and saw action in several games.

“This was the exact role she had to do for us,” Halbmaier said. “With Kindal going down with her second knee injury - even before the injury - thiswas Jordan’s role because we needed her to push the ball and get it down the court.

“She’s our catalyst, and she gets us going. She’s the onethat starts our transition and sets the tone because of her aggressive play. I don’t think there’s a game we’ve played where she’s been on the back of her heels. She’s always attacking and always doing something with the basketball.”

Martin started the season with a double-double, fi nishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds in a win over Clarksville. She almost duplicated the feat during two more games, and her best offensive performance came in the Neosho (Mo.) Holiday Classic, when she scored 24 points in a win over Carthage, Mo.

When she shoots from inside the lane, she’s hit 45 of 68 - and impressive 66.2percent accuracy. She also takes pride in her free-throw shooting, where she has hit 50 of 69 (72.4 percent) from the line and hit six during Bentonville’s fourth-quarter comeback last week against Huntsville

“I stay after practice a lot and work on the shooting machine, then work on free-throw shooting and ball handling,” Martin said. “I’ve been working on my mid-range shooting, but I love driving and getting to the free-throw line.

“I work on my free-throw shooting a lot. On the weekends, I try to come up here and shoot about 100. I don’t keep up with the percentages. I just concentrate and shoot.”

Sports, Pages 8 on 01/10/2014

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