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| Regina junior Mary Crompton dribbles against Benton. Jeff Yoder/For Your Prep Sports. |
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Mary Crompton could pretty much write her own scouting report last season.
“Last year most teams classified me as a shooter,” Crompton explained.
Crompton carries the shooter tag for a reason.
A 46 percent 3-point shooter in her first two varsity seasons Crompton established herself as one of the top shooters in the state.
This season Crompton has demonstrated she is much more than just a long ball specialist.
The 5-foot-8 junior has used an expanded offensive repertoire to get off to the best start of her career this season.
“It’s easy to guard someone when they are just a shooter,” Crompton said. In the offseason I put a lot of focus into getting to the basket and finishing with contact so over and over again I’d have someone pushing me or hanging on my arm as I was finishing.”
That work has paid off the season with the most efficient offensive season of her career.
Crompton is averaging 19.5 per game for Class 2A top-ranked Regina helping the Regals to an 8-0 start.
She is shooting 63 percent from the field and better than 50 percent from 3-point range on the season while averaging a career-high in scoring.
“My teammates are doing a good job of finding me and shots are going down,” Crompton said. “Definitely you just need to see the ball go through the hoop a couple of times and then the rest builds off that.”
Hitting shots has always been a big part of Crompton’s game.
This year Crompton is doing it all for Regina on both ends of the court.
Crompton averaged 21 points in back-to-back wins over Monticello and West Branch but more importantly turned in a pair of standout defensive efforts on standouts Lauren Ries and Tatum Koenig.
“Mary doesn’t get enough credit for her defense but she is a tremendous defensive player,” Regina coach Jeff Wallace said.
Crompton shadowed Ries during a 74-45 Regina win holding the junior standout to a season-low seven points.
She helped hold Koenig to 13 points, nearly seven below her season average in a 70-50 win.
“I enjoy the challenge that my coach puts on me with guarding one of the other team’s leading scorers,” Crompton said. “I just try to put the pressure on and make them as uncomfortable as possible.”
Defense isn’t the only area in which Crompton has improved this season.
Coming off an all-state sophomore season in which she averaged better than 16 points per game Crompton has become even more difficult to defend with her ability to attack defenders off the dribble.
Over the last three games Crompton has averaged 19 points per game while shooting 71 percent from the field.
“It’s hard to guard someone when they can shoot and drive,” Crompton said. “I think that’s become a good part of my game.”
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