Columbus North graduate and Marian senior Imani Guy takes a shot during a game this season.
Submitted photo
After earning Crossroads League and NAIA Player of the Year honors last season, Marian’s Imani Guy set the bar at a high level for when she decided to return for a fifth year of college basketball.
The Columbus North graduate has provided a stirring encore. She has earned her second consecutive Crossroads League Player selection and put herself in position as a candidate for another NAIA honor.
“Getting conference player of the year back-to-back is a great experience,” Guy said. “It’s a good way to end my college career. You’re not going to get many awards if your team isn’t good.”
Guy has led Marian to a 27-4 record and a No. 4 national ranking. The Knights open NAIA Tournament play at 5 p.m. Friday at home against Olivet Nazarene.
Marian went 27-6 last season, but lost in the second round of the NAIA Tournament. Coach Katie Gearlds left to take the job at Purdue, and Steve Brooks took over as the Knights coach.
“I’m extremely proud of this team,” Guy said. “To have a brand new team and a brand new coach and to stay strong this whole season, we’ve really come together.”
Guy leads Marian with 16.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game and is second on the team with 1.4 steals. She is shooting 57.4 percent from the field and 78.0 percent from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, another North product has helped the Knights get to where they are this season. Freshman Alexa McKinley is averaging 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds as the backup point guard.
“It’s been great to see,” Guy said. “We played for the same coach (Pat McKee), and knowing that she’s been coached well and understands the same things, I’m excited to see what Marian has in store for her the next four or five years.”
Although their time at North did not overlap, Guy got to know McKinley when Guy was in high school and McKinley was at North for Columbus Comets travel team practices and when McKinley was in high school and Guy came back to help out at the Bull Dogs’ basketball camp.
“It was definitely awesome to get to play with Imani for a year,” McKinley said. “I watched her growing up, so it was super exciting getting to play with her.”
Ironically, the Olivet team that Marian will be facing in the first round is the school where McKinley originally committed. She had planned to go to Olivet and room with high school classmate and former North manager Alana Cook until switching to Marian last summer.
Cook is a freshman at Olivet and a manager for its women’s basketball team.
“I’ve known her forever,” McKinley said. “It will be exciting to see her because I haven’t seen her in awhile.”
If the second-seeded Knights can get past 15th-seeded Olivet (20-11) Friday, they would play at 6 p.m. Saturday at home against the winner between seventh-seeded Rio Grande (31-2) and 10th-seeded Columbia (26-6). The Round of 16 through the championship game are March 18-22 in Sioux City, Iowa.
“I know that we’re capable of going far,” McKinley said. “We just have to be ready for every team we play.”
“I’d like to see us get all the way,” Guy added. “With us being the No. 4 team in the country, I don’t think its out of the question to see us go all the way. Knowing that each game could be my last definitely pushes me to play each game and get to play with Alexa longer.”
