Wahlin steps into leadership role
There’s a lot of words you could use to describe Iowa senior Kamille Wahlin — clutch, steady, spectacular — but the one that pops up over and over is leader.
“Kamille’s just a leader,” senior Kelly Krei said. “When she walks in the room, she leads.”
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder could see the intensity from Wahlin when she was recruiting her out of Crookston, Minn.
“When you put her on the floor, it was everything,” Bluder said. “She just wanted to compete. She wanted to win. And she really didn’t care who she offended in the way, whether it was a teammate or the opponent.
“Those are the type of kids you want leading your team and battling for you.”
Today, Wahlin, and four other seniors — Krei, Kalli Hansen, Megan Considine and Hannah Draxten — will be honored after the final home game of the season.
Iowa (18-10, 10-5) puts its seven-game winning streak on the line against Michigan (19-9, 8-7) a team it beat 58-57 10 days ago in Ann Arbor, Mich.
That winning streak that includes five games without top scorer Jaime Printy, lost to an ACL injury Feb. 2.
“I think it just goes to show again this is a program built on perseverance,” Wahlin said. “Each year we’ve gone through some injuries. This run means a lot.”
Once Printy went down, a lot of players had to step up, including Wahlin.
She has averaged 15.8 points during the seven-game win streak. Wahlin has taken on the role of becoming a top option offensively.
“She has never felt like she had to score to be the great player that she is,” Bluder said. “But certainly we like it when Kamille is an offensive threat.”
The senior has managed to score plenty while at Iowa. She currently ranks 10th on the all-time scoring list with 1,432 points and is second just to Lindsey Meder with 224 career 3-pointers.
She also is third in career assists with 413.
“With my position as a point guard, my role, how I’ve played it was to get the offense going,” Wahlin said. “Get everyone else going, and then take those smart shots.”
A history of smart shots and also a lot of clutch shots. Seven times in her career Wahlin has hit a basket in the final 65 seconds to tie the game or give Iowa the lead.
“Most of us dream about doing that once, and we are usually on the driveway when we do it,” Bluder said. “That’s incredible.”
Wahlin was a little surprised by the list of big shots.
“You never think about it when the game is on the line, you just go into another zone,” Wahlin said. “The only thing you think about is trying to make that play to try and win.
“I’m extremely competitive. If you have a chance to win at the end of the game, I want to win it.”
Wahlin took over as starting point guard as a freshman. As a sophomore, she was given captain duties.
“We were young and (Kachine Alexander) went out with an injury that year,” Wahlin said. “The coaches named me captain, and they talked to me a lot about stepping up.
“The coaches said we think you’re built for this type of leadership.”
Wahlin regularly speaks to players in the huddle, on the court, in the tunnel, in the locker room. She isn’t loud or brash but has a quiet determination players respond to.
“Kamille is just that steady personality,” freshman Samantha Logic said. “Definitely a leader to us all.”
Logic said it would’ve been easy for Wahlin to lose patience with the freshmen. This team was predicted to earn a fifth straight NCAA Tournament berth and contend for a Big Ten title.
And Iowa was 11-10 a few weeks ago. But the Hawkeyes are now is in third place in the Big Ten and an NCAA trip is almost in the books.
“It could have been really easy with the expectations coming into the year to get frustrated with us,” Logic said. “She’s been really good about it. She’s the leader of this team.”
“She just has a presence about her,” Krei said. “When she knows she needs to say something, she steps up and says something.
“When she talks, people listen.”
That’ll be good for Wahlin in her next job as a high school teacher. She has one more year of school to go.
In the meantime, Wahlin and the rest of the seniors want to extend the season as long as they can.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball
