Sports
Girls Basketball: “Hero of the Week” Demi Moore is Trimble’s X-Factor
By: James Massara
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Every good team in any sport has that one player who’s impact often goes unnoticed. The one who does all the little things. The X-factor.
Demi Moore is that player for Trimble. She does everything to make her teammates better and give her team its best chance to win. Moore’s importance may not be blatant in the box score at first glance, but her coach, Dave Richards, won’t hesitate to give her credit as a leader and important part of Trimble’s game.
“She’s one of the leaders [on our team] in rebounds, assists, and steals,” Richards said.
While Moore doesn’t quite drop double digits on a nightly basis, she understands her role on the court very well…Rebound.
“[I need] to get all the rebounds I can in order for my team to execute on offense,” said Moore.
“The role that she plays on our tam is kind of unusual, because she has to play the four or the five position a lot,” Richards said. Moore is only 5’4” by her estimate – significantly undersized for a post player, even in girls’ basketball.
But what Moore lacks in size, she makes up for in tenacity, especially on defense; Hardwood Heroes reporter Glenn Janos describes Moore as “one of the scrappiest players in the country.”
“You gotta do what you gotta do in order to win,” said Moore, embracing this title with a quick laugh. “When you got a little team, you do [have to play] scrappy.”
You wouldn’t know it from Moore’s lightheartedness during the interview, but things weren’t always so pleasant for the Lady Tomcats. Trimble began the season losing its first 12 games, a rather large setback from last season’s 11-9 campaign led by senior captains Taylor Savage and Jessi Spears.
The loss of such key players was detrimental to Trimble, but the Lady Tomcats have found their stride recently, winning four of their last six contests. Coach Richards believes Moore was an instrumental part of this impressive turnaround.
“Her hustle, her determination to play in the high post…she plays real good defense, and she’s got everybody else doing that,” said Richards. “When she steps up her game, the whole team has stepped up their game behind her.”
Moore noted that this year’s team plays together much more effectively than last year’s squad which finished fourth in the TVC Hocking. Because of their youth and inexperience, the Lady Tomcats don’t have a reliable scorer on offense, so they have to move the ball around and count on each other to play as a unit.
“She plays hard all the time, and that’s what enables her to play in the position that we ask her to play,” said Richards.
But being a junior on a young team required her to take on a leadership role. And Moore has done just that, especially during Trimble’s recent hot streak.
Moore’s impact was perhaps most evident in the Lady Tomcats’ back to back wins over TVC Hocking opponents Belpre and Wahama. Moore scored a big bucket down the stretch to pull within two points and secured the game winning rebound in the final seconds of a 50-48 victory over the Belpre Golden Eagles. Her double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) against Wahama on January 23 helped the team to a 65-61 victory—its third in four games at the time—and earned her Hardwood Heroes “Hero of the Week” honors.
Furthermore, those two wins essentially solidified the fact that Trimble is indeed a completely different team from the group of girls that went 0-12 to start the season.
“I just gotta keep my players up, because with confidence, we can win. If we don’t have confidence, we won’t win,” said Moore.
Moore and the Lady Tomcats (4-14, 4-10 TVC Hocking) will attempt to continue their run of confidence against Miller (4-12, 4-10 TVC Hocking) tonight.