It was just before Districts last year when Rachel Van Blaricom lost her mojo.
She can’t, or won’t, completely explain it, but she says she suddenly lost confidence in her decision-making. “I started rethinking things.” At times, she imagined she was hogging the ball – so she’d pass when she might have taken the shot. Then, she’d overthink that: “Sometimes, I get stuck on one play, then I keep making mistakes.”
So it was that Van Blaricom, who had averaged 15.9 points through the regular season, settled for nine in the Panthers’ District 5B tournament opener against Sweet Grass County, then just seven in the season-ending consolation-bracket loss to Broadwater.
