Dobbins named NJCAA All-American
Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-Garden City Women’s Coach Nick Salazar was fully aware of his freshman guard’s potential.
But even will admit that he was taken back by Shala Dobbins production during the 2015-2016 season.
On Thursday, the multi-talented guard from Tulsa, OK was named to the NJCAA All-America first team.
“During a scrimmage against a really good State Fair Team, she scored 16 straight points,” Salazar explained. “We knew then how talented she could be. But to be honest, you never know how these things play out until the season starts.”
It was a year not seen in these parts in a very long time.
Dobbins led the Jayhawk Conference in scoring, averaging 19.9 points per game. She also was second in the nation in free throws made (251) while breaking the school record in that department and in free throws attempted (32) in a single season. She broke the record previously held by Jasmine Irving during the 2002-2003 season.
“She’s (Dobbins) a unique talent,” Salazar said.
During the Women’s National Invitational Tournament in Midland back in November, Salazar told one story that summed up the entire season for the freshman guard.
“One of the coaches there watched our game against No. 2 Trinity Valley,” he said. “And he told me that in all of his years in basketball, he never saw a guard score all of her points at the rim.”
Dobbins scored 32 in that game as the Broncbusters fell short. But that performance was just a prelude to the much larger picture. The dazzling guard would go onto score 20 or more points in all but 11 games.
