When talking to Kate Gallery or her coaches, one word always comes up regarding her play: confidence.
Gallery has found her stroke this season, especially of late. In the first three games of the season, Gallery scored four points in total. Her play looked similar to her freshman year where she only averaged three points per game in 10.8 minutes per game.
Then Gallery exploded for four straight games scoring in double digits. On Dec. 8, Gallery scored a career-high 19 points in a win over New Mexico Highlands. She then scored 19 again in a win over Westminster on Dec. 16.
Through Friday, the sophomore forward has averaged 12.4 points per game in her last nine games. She’s averaging 9.7 points per game through Friday, tripling her scoring average of 3.0 from last season.
“Last year was that transition from high school to college and also just trying to find a place and a position on the court where she was most confident,” Skyhawks coach Taylor Harris said. “Also with me, just trying to find the best places to utilize her strengths and put her in the best position to be successful. Kate had a great summer and the freshman-to-sophomore summer is always the most important for growth. She excelled with that and she worked extremely hard, especially on her jump shot. That shows with her confidence as a shooter and I always tell Kate, I want her to shoot the ball. I want her to shoot the ball and I want her to shoot it again.”
Gallery shot 21% from 3-point range her freshman year and is shooting 29% from 3-point range this season. At 6-foot-1, Gallery is a weapon from outside with her size and length.
Despite her struggles her freshman year, Harris said he isn’t a coach to change his players’ shots. He said these players have their shot forms ingrained in them by the time they get to college. So it was all about getting reps and making sure Gallery has confidence when she shoots.
“I train a lot with my old club coach and he's been my coach forever back in my hometown,” said Gallery, a Pueblo native. “He played college basketball and he's played a lot of basketball in his life. So I shoot with him a lot. We just did a lot of catch-and-shoot drills, but moving up and down the floor and stuff like that. Just getting different shots in different ways and moving around and stuff.”
Gallery’s shooting struggles extended to the foul line last season. She shot 48% from the charity stripe compared to shooting 89% this season. Gallery said she focused on free throws in the offseason and has stopped thinking as much at the line as she did last year.
Despite Gallery’s improved touch from beyond the arc throughout the season, she said teams haven’t changed the way they defend her.
“Lanae (Billy) draws so much attention. That's why I've been getting a lot of open shots on the pick and pop that me and Lanae do a lot,” Gallery said. “She just draws so many defenders and that's why I have had so many open 3s. Everybody in the RMAC knows you can't leave Lanae open.”
Both Gallery and Harris admit that she can improve on driving to the basket and scoring in a variety of ways. Harris also said he thinks Gallery can become an All-RMAC player if she can improve her rebounding on both the offensive and defensive glass.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
