Big game highlights big season for Sabers star
Atkinson named to NOW All-Suburban squad
Atkinson averaged 12.4 points per game.
Franklin — Taylor Atkinson didn't set out to match Christine Rathke's single-game school scoring record when the Franklin Sabers girls basketball team played Racine Case in early February.
All Atkinson, a junior guard, wanted to do was win.
"Going into the game, a lot of my teammates weren't really that confident, but I had a good feeling about that game for some reason," she said. "I just really didn't want to lose to them again. I said to myself that I'd do everything in my power to win this game and it worked out in our favor. (With) my teammates, I was getting some unbelievable passes and everyone picked it up and followed my lead and it all fell into place."
Atkinson finished with a career-high 34 points in the Sabers' 65-63 double-overtime victory that night, tying Rathke for the most points scored in a game. It was the highlight of a breakout season that included Atkinson's inclusion among the Southeast Conference first-team all-league selections and a spot on the 2010 NOW All-Suburban Girls Basketball Team.
"Taylor has had a ball in her hand since she was 4 years old and has a love and passion for the game that you find in all the great ones," Franklin coach Ron Kluth said. "I knew she was going to be one of those special players when I saw her play touch football in fourth grade - she was a natural."
Atkinson's rapid ascension was a bit surprising considering she averaged just 5.8 points per game on the varsity as a sophomore. But after a summer of AAU basketball with the Wisconsin Lakers, Atkinson raised that mark to 12.4 points per game to go along with 6.1 rebounds, a whopping 4.0 steals and 2.2 assists. She scored in double digits in 14 of 24 games this season after doing so just five times as a sophomore.
Her 34 points against Case tied the season-high for any NOW-area player, matching NOW player of the year Ashley Green of Nicolet, who scored 34 in a game against Muskego early in the season.
"In the offseason, I really focused on basketball more than anything else," said Atkinson, who is currently in her third year on the Sabers' varsity soccer team. "(The Lakers) are a national team. Playing with the best forces you to pick up your game and pushes you to a whole other level that you never knew you had."
Kluth said the offseason work paid huge dividends immediately. He noticed an improved jump shot and increased speed and strength.
"She is so strong, especially her hands," he said. "She is nearly impossible to knock off the ball while she dribbles and is so superior at imposing her will defensively that you just marvel at her determination."
Atkinson, who received nearly 100 more online fan votes than any of the 15 NOW finalists, said she has already begun working on her free-throw shooting, an area she struggled in this winter (62 percent). She also hopes to develop a refined 3-point shot to make her even tougher to defend. Kluth would like to see her become more consistent in the paint.
"She works extremely hard underneath the basket and we get her the ball there and most times teams don't have a player that can stop her," he said. "I think it is a matter of improving her touch around the basket and putting in those 'easy' shots she has worked so hard to make happen. I have no doubt she is already working on that part of her game for next year."
Atkinson is the sixth player in school history to be named to the NOW team and with a solid senior campaign could join Rathke, Laura Barczak and Chelley Hahn as the school's repeat NOW selections.
"We have such a great tradition of great players at Franklin and Taylor certainly is among them," Kluth said. "I think if she continues to increase her scoring average by finding more consistency in her offensive skill set, she could be in the conversation of the top-five players I have ever coached."
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