Similarities don’t end with Division I basketball for Kirkland seniors Nunn and Shepard

Published 10:59 am Monday, November 24, 2014

Two girls from Kirkland have signed on to play Division I basketball. Sydney Shepard, a senior at Lake Washington High school, received a full ride scholarship, the first LWH girls basketball player to do so since around 2000, with the University of San Diego Torreros. Jaisa Nunn, a senior at Juanita High, has agreed to play for the University of New Mexico Lobos.

There are quite a few similarities between the two. Both started out playing soccer, volleyball and basketball as kids. Both had fathers who played college basketball and helped guide them as they pursued their passion.

While Shepard said she continued to play volleyball in high school, basketball was her primary focus throughout the year.

“I was never tempted to give up basketball,” Shepard said. “I liked it because you can score a lot of points and a lot of other sports don’t, and you can work on your individual game. But I just felt like everybody can contribute in a way in basketball, and when someone doesn’t, it affects everything.”

“I wanted to play everything as a kid,” Nunn said of her involvement in athletics.

By fifth grade, her parents told her she could only pick one sport. The choice, she said, was easy.

“I loved playing it,” she said. “I loved hanging around kids with a sport that was very interesting to me. It was an energy burner.”

Going the distance

As far back as she could remember, Shepard always wanted to play college ball. Although she played on select teams and summer ball, she said when she entered LWHS as a sophomore there was a giant leap in the level of intensity and competition among the athletes.

“Going from ninth grade to high school was completely different,” she said. “I was playing against girls who are 17 or 18, and I was 14. It’s just a…completely different atmosphere.”

Fortunately, she said, her father, Cory Shepard, who played basketball for Whitman College in Walla Walla, helped her prepare for the level of competition by playing her a year up and with older girls on select teams. Cory Shepard is also the head varsity coach for Lake Washington girls basketball team and, prior to that, he was hired on to coach the boys basketball team in 1999.

“Really, I would credit a lot of my success to him helping me get better as a basketball player,” she said. “He’s seen what a girl has to do. Both my parents are really supportive.”

Shepard said she focused on improving certain areas of her game, particularly her agility. As a guard, she worked at protecting the hoop from quicker opponents looking to make a quick shot. Offensively, she spent hours in the gym with shooting machines to improve her aim, including behind the three-point arc.

The hard work paid off. Though the Kangs struggled during their regular season with a record of 13-12 last year, they managed to fight their way to their first appearance at the state tournament since 2000, when the school was 3A. During a critical victory against Sumner in February, 51-44, Shepard racked up 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds. She was twice named All KingCo 3A/2A Conference First Team All League player.

While the team failed to place at the state tournament, Shepard said the team was successful because of strong cohesion even though they were underdogs.

“We had some talent and yeah, we competed, but honestly we had great team chemistry,” she said. “We all liked each other on and off the court and it makes up for some of the lack of talent. Even if we didn’t have talent, the great team chemistry pushed us further and further.”

After being contacted during a summer game in Oregon by the University of San Diego, she signed on after an official visit and will play guard for the team.

Like father, like daughter

Nunn too decided she wanted to play college ball at a young age, when she was in middle school. For her, there was something about the speed of the game, as well as the potential for improvement that she loved.

Like Shepard, her father also played college basketball at Eureka College and was eventually inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame. Coaching several of her youth basketball teams, she said he was always offering guidance and advice based on his own athletic career.

“He gave me a lot of experience,” she said. “I think it just came naturally when I took this sport.”

In addition to her father, she also credited her coaches, including Sam Lee, the head varsity coach for Juanita High School, her Swish Black coaches Sam Adams and Brent Merritt, as well as Steve Klees with the NW Blazers, an elite high school basketball club based in Portland, Ore. Growing to be six-feet, three-inches tall, she found a natural place as a post and power forward.

“When you’re there [post], it’s just you, the other post and the basket,” she said. “When you get the ball you get a chance to prove yourself. I have the ball in my hand, she’s maybe on my right side, and I have to do this move, and you don’t even think about it. You score that point, add two more points on the scoreboard. I just love it when it’s just one-on-one.”

As she progressed, she said her father also encouraged her to improve her shooting.

“He said if you have this aspect of your game, it will open up so many other doors,” she said. “Eventually I kept shooting and shooting and now I’m so grateful I did that and have that distinct form. If a post is taller than me I can take them outside the key and shoot and make buckets all the time. I basically take my game one step further.”

Some of the highlights of her years with the Rebels include an edge-of-the-seat victory against undefeated Liberty High in 2012, 42-41.

“It was this game to see,” she said. “There were so many people there. You either have to perform or you are sitting on the bench…They were one of the top teams in the state and knowing we beat them, it just makes me realize ‘Wow, I can do anything now.’”

Last season, the Rebels crushed the opposition during the regular season, ending with a 13-1-0 record and a 19-4-0 overall record. Although they lost in the playoffs, they were ranked 20th overall in the state.

She signed to play with the University of New Mexico after the coach contacted her in September 2013. When she’s not on the basketball court, she says said she’s thinking of studying engineering.

“I like building stuff, how machines work, how they move,” she said.

Both players hope to push their respective Kirkland high school teams as far as they can during their senior year beginning Dec. 1.