Junior Maddie Scherr had the first two 20-point scoring games of her collegiate career in consecutive games this month. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky’s season has not gone nearly the way it wanted but Oregon transfer Maddie Scherr has started what made her a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year, McDonald’s All-American and state champion at Ryle High School.
She had a career-high 22 points against LSU and then broke that with 25 points the next game against unbeaten No. 1 South Carolina when she went 5-for-7 from 3-point range. Those were her first two 20-point games in college after she had scored 2,300 points in high school.
She also had a steal in nine straight games and has had at least three assists in 15 games.
Scherr is averaging 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. She leads UK with 90 assists, 40 steals and 17 blocked shots going into Sunday’s game against Mississippi State. She’s also second on the team with 22 3-pointers made.
“She and I had a conversation — it’s funny — I wanted to free her up. She was pressing and I was like, ‘Maddie, don’t worry about scoring.’ I was like, ‘Facilitate, get us in an offense, play hard. If it feels good, take the shot. If it doesn’t, don’t worry about it. We don’t need you to score,’” Elzy said after the South Carolina game.
“That was right before Georgia, and she’s been scoring ever since. I need to keep telling her, ‘Don’t worry about scoring!’”
Scherr was stuffing the stat sheet earlier but just not making shots she normally does. She had to remind herself to keep shooting.
“I know that they’re going to fall eventually. That’s what happens you know, just keep shooting it. I had all the encouragement from my coaches and teammates to keep shooting the ball. So that’s what really got me there,” Scherr, a junior, said.
Kentucky has 10 new players this season and Scherr admits it has been a “hard journey” for the team, especially with shots not falling. She said the way UK played for three quarters in the loss to No. 1 South Carolina is what the team is capable of doing.
“So just sticking together remembering things like, ‘Hey, stay with it short memory and keep going after these teams no matter if it’s the number one team in the country,’” Scherr said.
