Kendra Hicks a record-setting rebounding machine for Jesuit (Oregon) girls basketball: ‘She thinks that every single ball is hers’
She has a very friendly smile.
There’s a soft, pleasant tone to her voice.
She boasts a positive, wonderful demeanor.
But don’t let Kendra Hicks fool you.
No, she really does have those friendly, pleasant, positive qualities, but when the basketball is in the air, the Jesuit senior becomes a friendly, pleasant, positive rebounding machine.
Actually, make that a friendly, pleasant, positive, UNSTOPPABLE rebounding machine.
And when it comes to rebounding, maybe no high school girls basketball player in the state does it better than the 6-foot-1 Hicks.
“She sees the ball, she gets the ball,” Jesuit girls basketball coach Jason Lowery said. “She thinks that every single ball is hers.”
Hicks agrees. When asked what her attitude is when she sees the ball in the air, she had a simple, two-word answer.
“It’s mine,” Hicks said with a smile.
Most of the time, it is.
For the season, Hicks is averaging an impressive double-double, with 14 points and 15 rebounds per game. She passed the 1,000-rebound milestone for her high school career. She’s become Jesuit’s all-time leader in rebounds, and she’s on the list of the state’s all-time rebounds leaders.
And she’s doing it all with mainly just one goal in mind — to help the Crusaders.
“I was always a player who wanted to rebound and grow in that area,” Hicks said. “So, I just took any opportunity I could. I knew that on offense, if we weren’t hitting our shots, that getting us more looks would help us win the game. I just want to help our team.”
According to Lowery, Hicks has helped the Crusaders tremendously this season.
“She’s meant everything for us. She’s the heart and the soul,” Lowery said. “She’s been a great leader. That’s a brand-new role for her, being the centerpiece of everything we do. Offensively, she’s been our biggest weapon. Watching how she impacts her teammates on both ends has been really fun to see.”
In what’s been nothing short of an amazing season for Hicks, she saved her best for last. In Jesuit’s final two games of the regular season — games the Crusaders needed to win to clinch a share of the Metro League title — Hicks exploded for 33 points and 25 rebounds in a 68-37 home win over Westview, and she followed with 30 points, 31 rebounds and five assists in a 55-41 showdown victory at Beaverton in a regular-season finale.
“There’s plenty of work to be done around the basket, and she’s the best in the state at doing that,” Lowery said.
Hicks and the Crusaders, who are 18-6 this season, are looking to keep up the hard work in postseason play. They’ll open the Class 6A state playoffs Wednesday, when they play host to Sheldon in a first-round game at 6 p.m. at Jesuit High School.
Hicks, in her senior season, is looking to take that season as far as it can go.
“We’re hoping to make it to the Chiles Center (site of the Class 6A state tournament), but we’re just hoping to grow every day, play our best 32 minutes every single game we play, and take it one step at a time,” she said. “We know some matchups are going to be difficult, but we’re ready to take on the challenges.”
Basketball in her blood
It doesn’t seem to be a reach to say Hicks was born to play basketball.
“We’re a basketball family,” she said. “Both of my parents (Chris and Lisa Hicks) played high school basketball. My sisters play basketball. It was in my blood.”
Hicks wanted to get an early start at the family sport.
“I started playing basketball in first grade, with the Hotshots,” she said. “I was on an all-boys team, because there were no other girls who wanted to play.”
Her sisters, however, wanted to play. Kendra’s older sister, Carly, played three years at Central Catholic before transferring to Jesuit for her senior year. She’s a sophomore guard for the University of Redlands, where she’s averaging 8.3 points per game for the Bulldogs.
Her younger sister, Ashlyn, has earned a spot on the Beaverton varsity roster as a freshman.
“Both of my sisters are way more athletic, so I was like, ‘I need to work hard at all the other things to get really good,’” Kendra said. “So, part of it came naturally, but it was also hours in the gym, putting in my time.”
A lot of hours of work to go with a lot of support from her family.
“We’ve always been a competitive family. My family has always been so supportive, always challenging me,” Hicks said. “My parents know how to push me, and when I’ve had a rough game, they’ve always been there with positive words. That’s extremely important. My parents and sisters, we have always been able to push each other.”
Kendra and Ashlyn got to push each other on the court this season.
“It’s very competitive. I’m not going to lose to her, and she wants to beat me just as bad,” Kendra said. “My parents root for us individually, of course. But they decided to root for whoever’s team is home.”
Hicks passed the 1,000-rebound milestone Jan. 30, when the Crusaders notched a 46-43 win over Ashlyn’s Beaverton squad at Jesuit High School.
“That means a lot. It’s not something I ever felt could happen until this year,” Hicks said of reaching 1,000 rebounds. “I just started heading toward that record and heading toward 1,000. That was extremely important to me. I kept asking Coach after every game, ‘How close am I?’ My family was really excited about that, too.”
Shining as a Crusader
Like her younger sister, Kendra Hicks earned a varsity roster spot as a freshman, playing that first year, the 2021 season that was shortened because of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the Jesuit squad that went 12-5.
“I was kind of surprised. I didn’t really know it was going to happen,” Hicks said of earning a varsity spot as a freshman. “It felt really good. It was nice knowing all of that hard work was paying off. That sophomore class was great. They created a really good team environment.”
As a junior, Hicks helped the Crusaders go 27-3 and win the third-place game at the Class 6A state tournament. That team featured a strong group of seniors, including standouts Sofia Bell and Emma Sixta.
With those seniors graduated and departed, Hicks was left to fill a new role as a senior — she had to become a team leader.
“I just want to provide the same sort of relationship that my seniors had with me. I want to provide that to the underclassmen, to push them and help them get better while also creating great relationships,” she said. “Leadership is a huge part of that role. I feel I need to lead by example. That means doing the small things — not meaning getting 20 points, but to know my matchups and making sure I can execute the offense and stuff like that, which helps show the importance of that.”
According to Lowery, Hicks has excelled in her role as a leader.
“She was ready for it, and it was intentional, trying to get her to be a leader and understanding that importance, both on and off the court,” he said. “It’s been fun to see her embrace it.”
And she’s embraced it with a smile.
“I’m just here to help make sure my teammates have faith in themselves,” she said. “I have confidence that when their shot goes up, it’s going in.”
Hicks has been more than a rebounder and a leader at Jesuit; she’s also been a standout student, boasting a 3.9 grade-point average.
“I feel like Jesuit provides a great environment for this,” Hicks said. “Also, it’s a lot of focus and time management. I learned that right after COVID, how to manage things. I’m really big on not procrastinating and making sure I spread things out so I don’t spread myself too thin.”
Super Senior Night
While Hicks has had plenty of highlights in her senior season at Jesuit, it would be hard to top what she did, appropriately, at the Crusaders’ Senior Night, when they played host to Westview on Feb. 21.
“It was just about honoring our seniors, like me, ‘T’ (Taniyah Smith) and Evelyn (Tossi). We’ve been playing together for 10 years,” Hicks said. “They’re two of my closest friends. It’s really exciting to celebrate the night with all three of us.”
Entering her final regular-season game on the Jesuit hardwood, Hicks had no big expectations or goals.
“Coming into the game, I didn’t expect to do that well,” she said. “I just wanted to go out there and have fun and to celebrate everyone. We had a lot of energy that night, and I think that kind of helped my performance.”
And what a performance it was.
Hicks took over the contest right from the start, having 10 points and nine rebounds in the first quarter. By halftime, she had 20 points and 13 rebounds.
She didn’t let up in the second half. In fact, she had a double-double in the third quarter with 10 points and 11 rebounds in the period, giving her 30 points and 24 rebounds going to the final stanza.
But Hicks wasn’t aware of that.
“I didn’t even realize I had 30 points until we had that timeout in the fourth, and everyone ran out and was going, ‘30! 30!’” she said. “I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I wasn’t keeping track in my head. I thought I had maybe like 14 or 16.”
Hicks finished the game with 33 points on a 14-for-21 shooting night from the field. She had 25 rebounds, with 14 coming on the offensive end. She turned those 14 offensive rebounds into seven follow-up baskets.
“It was so fun. I enjoyed every minute of it,” she said. “I felt like we, the seniors, had such an amazing time. Our team had a lot of fun. Westview hit some tough shots. It was a great game, and a really fun game to play.”
Rebound that basketball
Entering that Senior Night game, Hicks was up to 1,102 career rebounds, which, it was announced at the game, put her No. 6 on the Class 6A all-time list for rebounds.
So, the question is, what makes Kendra Hicks such a good rebounder?
“In order to be a good rebounder, you just need to work hard,” Hicks said. “I strongly believe that I wasn’t going to be someone who was flashy and all that, but I was going to always work my tail off to get a rebound. I was really confident that if I couldn’t help the team being something like the best defender or best shooter, I was going to get the rebound and help us get twice as many shots.”
And that attitude brings a smile to Lowery’s face.
“That’s refreshing to see in today’s game — it’s all about scoring, it’s all about shots, but she’s never been about that,” he said. “She couldn’t care less about the 33 points she got. She’s more into the rebounds. We celebrate scoring, but I think that sometimes it’s great that we can celebrate a hard-working rebounder.”
Hicks isn’t just a hard-working rebounder — she’s studied the art of rebounding.
“I know my shooters’ shots,” she said. “Last year, I knew Avery’s (Edwards) shot really well and I knew Emma’s shot really well. I’m starting to learn Amani’s (Lubrano) and Sophia’s (Costarella) shots really well. I’m able to read where those shots are going to go, and that helps me a lot.”
There’s also some undeniable determination involved.
“It’s been ingrained in me for a long time,” Hicks said. “Ever since third grade, it was like, ‘You need to get rebounds.’ It comes naturally, but I need to work hard at it.”
“I didn’t teach her any of that stuff,” Lowery said. “She’s fundamentally sound. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her get a rebound with just one hand. She grabs it with two hands, and people are just bouncing off of her because she has such a strong base. If it’s off the rim, it’s her ball.”
A bright future
As good of a rebounder Hicks is now, she says she can keep improving — not just when it comes to rebounding, but her entire game.
“I think I can get better. There’s no cap to skill,” she said. “You can always continue growing and getting better. I think I’m a good passer. I like sharing the ball. It’s getting all of my teammates involved. I’d like to get a little better on defense, like perimeter defense. And going into college, I want to shoot a little better, show that I’m ready to get in there.”
That college is the University of Nevada, as Hicks has committed to play for the Wolf Pack.
“It was just the relationships I built with the coaches,” Hicks said of what made Nevada the right place for her. “They were always checking in on me. They were telling me where I’d fit in on the campus. My parents loved it, I loved it, and it felt like home when I went there.”
At Nevada, Hicks will be part of a strong Oregon connection, which includes West Linn’s Audrey Roden and Tualatin graduates Natalie Lathrop and Olivia Poulivaati.
“It’s nice because I get a little bit of home,” Hicks said. “They can relate because they know how Oregon basketball is, and I’m very excited to be teammates with them next year.”
And it sounds like the Wolf Pack should be excited as well.
“I think Nevada is getting a great one,” Lowery said. “Nevada came here a couple years ago to look at a couple of our other kids, and I remember saying, ‘Hey, you might want to look at my sophomore post.’ She wasn’t scoring a ton back then, so I said, ‘She’s not going to get you 20, but just watch her.’ And then Nevada fell in love with her.”
Hicks insists she’s going to be ready to move up to the collegiate level.
“I’m definitely going to work on endurance and defense,” she said. “I’m going to have to improve every aspect of my game. It’s just going to take a lot of hard work.”
But first, Kendra Hicks has some more hard work — and some more rebounds to grab for the Crusaders.
