Chesapeake's Ball Aims to Take Stage at Next Level with Rio Grande
- Staff
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
CHESAPEAKE — Ladies and gentlemen, now playing is Kate Ball and The Rio Grande Beatles.
Don’t expect Kate Ball to get in a tight game and whip out her guitar or look for a nearby keyboard to relieve the pressure.
The Chesapeake Lady Panthers’ senior guard plays both the guitar and piano.
“It helps my mind relax,” said Ball.
After signing a letter-of-intent to play basketball for the University of Rio Grande RedStorm, Ball can relax about her future and career choice.
There were several schools who were courting Ball that included Kentucky Christian, West Virginia Wesleyan and Alice Lloyd. But Ball said that Rio Grande was more of what she was looking for in a college.
“I picked to stay close and I picked the program that I felt I fit best in, and I stayed here,” said Ball.
Rio Grande won the River States Conference tournament this season and qualified for the NAIA tournament. Ball said the continuing success of the program was also enticing.
She isn’t certain what position she will play but she is leaning toward continuing as a point guard where she started playing in elementary school.
“I started in like second grade,” said Ball who noted that her father, Chris Ball, has always been her coach. My dad was first and last in my career. It was good to have him all along.”
Ball also plays volleyball and runs track, but she said basketball has always been her favorite.
“It’s one of my stronger sports. I’ve been doing AAU for as long as I can remember, from third or fourth grade. It’s something that I’ve never stopped and I love it,” Ball said.
Playing for her father has been a positive experience. She said they separate practices and games from home life.
“It was an experience playing for my dad. It was tough sometimes, but it was really fun. Having my dad as my coach is a different experience. It’s really fun,” she said.
“Honestly, we try not to take it home. We try to solve everything on the court and when we get home we don’t talk about it. We keep our father-daughter relationship.”
As a point guard, Ball was able to pass the ball and come up with steals, but she was also an outstanding shooter, especially from 3-point range.
Ball stands 5-foot-6 and Rio Grande head coach Dave Smalley compares her to the RedStorm senior point guard Azyiah Williams from Ripley Union High School.
“She fits what we like and what we like and what we’ve always recruited,” said Smalley. “Look at Azyiah Williams. Same body build, same style but Kate is a better perimeter scorer than what Azyiah was.”
Smalley then hinted at a similarity with senior Kaylee Darnell who finished her career as the program’s all-time leading scorer.
“She’s no different body build than Kaylee Darnell. We make a living off players like that, especially now. We’re getting local players that fit what we need,” said Smalley.
Ball averaged 15.5 points a game as she earned first team all-district honors and was Special Mention All-Ohio. She also averaged 3.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 4.2 steals and shot 74 percent from the foul line and 39 percent from 3-point range which is important to Smalley.
“She’s going to fit into our style and I hope our style continues, getting the ball out in transition,” said Smalley.
“We’ve got to shoot the (3-point goal) better than what we have in the past couple of years. We’re still putting a lot of points up. We averaged 91 points (per game) which was third in the country.”
Smalley expects Ball to make the transition to the college game without much trouble because of her background.
“Her (basketball) IQ is off the charts with her father coaching,” said Smalley.
No matter how long the transition takes, Ball said her goals are simple.
“Honestly, my goals are to just be myself, and to continue to work hard and to be successful,” she said.
Ball plans to major in Occupational Therapy.
Comments