By JIM LUTGENS
Editor/Publisher
Usually, when people speculated about the college athletic career for Jade Schultz, they talked softball.
Somehow, that all changed during the last year.
Now she’s looking at playing basketball — at the Division I level.
“We thought for sure softball is what she would do,” said her father and NRHEG head girls’ basketball coach John Schultz. “I guess missing last spring and summer took her off the radar for that.”
Jade, who suffered a severe knee injury in last year’s state girls’ basketball tournament, has been recovering since, wearing a brace on the leg all season. Apparently, during that time she’s garnered the attention of Coach Pam Borton of the University of Minnesota, where teammate Carlie Wagner will play on full scholarship next year.“The last three weeks or so, they’ve been talking to her about it,” said John Schultz. “We didn’t really believe it until this past Sunday.”
That’s when the Schultz family sat down with the entire Gopher coaching staff, who told Jade they thought she could help the Gophers.
During the 25-game 2013-14 season for the Panthers, Schultz had a team-high 194 rebounds and team-best 69 three-point baskets. Entering Monday’s sub-section championship game, she needed six rebounds to reach 1,000 for her career.
But that’s not what impressed Borton and her staff the most.
“The thing that attracted them the most was her toughness, that bulldog attitude,” said John Schultz.
She’ll start practice this fall as a “preferred” walk-on at the U, meaning she was recruited but will not receive scholarship money at this time.
“At this point, they’ve allocated all their scholarship money for next year,” said John Schultz. At some point, a scholarship is something that could happen.”
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Editor’s note: Coach Schultz was asked for an update on former Braham star Rebekah Dahlmann, who the Panthers faced in the last two state tournaments. Dahlman finished her high school career as the state’s all-time leading scorer with more than 5,000 career points and was awarded a scholarship to Villanova University.
“She was starting there,” said Schultz. “It looked like she was going to be the Freshman of the Year.”
Now, she’s out for the season and possibly for good after developing blood clots.
“It’s sad,” said Schultz.