Reigning WAC Tournament MVP Stacey Barr has carried her 2013 postseason play into the 2013-14 season in a big way for the 14-7 WAC leading Idaho women’s basketball team. Her 19.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game helped Idaho to its 2013 WAC Championship win. She hasn’t slowed down this season leading Idaho with 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
File photo by Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Stacey Barr attempts a shot in Idaho’s 58-54 victory over Grand Canyon Thursday in the Coawan Spectrum. Barr is the leading scorer and an emerging leader on Idaho’s 14-7 women’s basketball team. The Vandals are 7-0 in WAC play and on pace for a second straight NCAA Tournament apperarance.
“She brings a lot of energy to the team, she always has,” senior Alyssa Charlston said of Barr. “She’s going to go after any ball that’s loose and she motivates people on the court by the way she plays. Especially last year she came on right when we needed her to in the WAC Tournament.”
Barr has led the Vandals in scoring in 13 of 21 games. The Vandals are 11-2 when the junior from Melbourne, Australia, leads the team and are currently undefeated in WAC play at 7-0.
While Barr’s scoring ability is impressive, her rebounding might be her most impressive stat. Despite only being 5 feet 8 inches tall, Barr has led the Vandals in rebounding nine games reaching double digits in the last seven.
“She’s extremely aggressive, she’s extremely hard-nosed and very physical,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “She’s unafraid, she doesn’t play the game physically afraid. She’ll throw her body around … and box out and do whatever it takes to go get the basketball. That’s just her mentality. She’s very athletic, she has good hops and she can jump.”
On paper, Barr looks like the complete player. She can shoot from outside (31 percent from the 3-point line), she can take the ball to the rim, she can make free throws and she can rebound.
Still, after a tough midseason road stretch, Newlee said Barr came out before practice and took hundreds of shots with the shooting machine to try to get out of a small slump. Barr has also developed into a team leader for Idaho now that she is an upperclassman on a team of mostly freshmen and sophomores.
“I like helping out the freshmen whenever they need it, on the court kind of directing them, just being there for them whether it’s on or off the court,” Barr said.
Barr’s basketball skill comes from years of practice. She said she started playing when she was 4 years old since her older sister was a basketball player and she stuck with it from there. By the time she was 13, she was playing senior basketball against older competition and continued to improve from there.
Newlee said he has connections in Australia and received game tape of Barr playing. From there, the recruiting process got rolling and eventually Barr ended up making the trek from Melbourne, Australia, to play basketball in Moscow.
Now, Barr and the Vandals are on track to win their second straight WAC Championship and make a consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance if they keep up their winning ways.
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]