Rhoads living up to legacy

By MIKE KILROY Eagle Staff Writer

March 15, 2010 Last Updated: March 15, 2010 03:21 PM High School

Karly reminder of big sister

SLIPPERY ROCK — Karly Rhoads doesn't mind the comparison.

In fact, she loves it.

Her eyes get wider. Her smile broadens. She even begins to blush.

If you squint, the energetic Slippery Rock High senior guard looks like a doppelganger for older sister Jence, who scored more than 2,000 points in her career with the Rockets.

"Jence has always been my role model," Karly said. "She's a great player and a great person to look up to. Being compared to her is the greatest compliment in the world, actually."

Karly did her best Jence impression Saturday against Blackhawk in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs.

She scored 29 points, took over the game for long stretches and nailed 6-of-8 free throws in the final quarter to preserve the win.

In the postseason, Karly is averaging 21 points per game.

Could she be, gasp, even better than Jence at this point in their careers?

"She has some strengths that Jence never had," said Slippery Rock High coach Adrienne Orris, who coached the elder Rhoads during Jence's senior season. "She can do some things for us that Jence wasn't as strong in."

To Orris, the similarities between Karly and Jence were apparent three years ago when Jence was leading a group of freshmen — including Karly and her twin sister Kourtney — to the state quarterfinals.

Orris sometimes got confused while watching game film.

"I had to pay attention to what color socks they had on to tell them apart," Orris said. "(Karly) moves a lot like Jence. That's just a genetic thing. She's a great player, offensively and defensively, and she's developed into that type of player."

It wasn't always a smooth ride for Karly.

During her first two years, she got the reputation for being timid and easily flustered.

Still, there was no denying her scoring potential. She averaged 9.8 points per game as a freshman and increased that to 14.7 as a sophomore.

Karly reached 1,000 career points as a junior and went over 1,500 in her career against Sharon in the District 10 title game.

As the years have passed, Karly has become tougher and more aggressive.

"I grew up," she said.

She's now just as prone to drive to the hoop for a left-handed runner than pull up for a 3-pointer.

Not that she has a problem with firing up a 3 in any situation and from any range.

"She has the mentality, though, that whatever the team needs, she will do," Orris said. "She's fearless. Sometimes I do bite my lip. I have confidence in her, but I'll see her feet aren't set and she'll still take that shot and I want to say, 'Karly!" But I don't."

She hit a 3-pointer against Blackhawk from the top of the key when she received an errant pass with her back to the hoop, spun and fired up the shot while only catching a fleeting glimpse of her target.

To Karly, it's perfectly normal. The bigger the stage, she said, the bigger the risks.

"This is what you play for," Karly said. "This is what you play all through the regular season for, these moments. It's what you live for. It's the state playoffs. We just all want to win really badly."