Ozark's Molly Rushing is looking every bit the part of a first-year point guard challenging for All-COC consideration.
Rushing's speed, ball-handling, passing, scoring and confidence have played an integral factor in the Lady Tigers entering this week 12-10 overall and 5-1 in the COC.
Going into tonight's matchup with Republic, Ozark has won five straight conference games.
Rushing's transition from shooting guard to point guard for her senior year has been a bonafide success story.
"I think it's gone great," Rushing said. "Coach (Brandon) Clift has put a lot of trust in me and I have a lot of trust in him. I have a lot of trust in my teammates. We're building off of each other."
"She has really grown as a nice player from her junior to senior year to where she's running the offense," Clift said. "It's been a nice progression."
One of the first decisions Clift made upon taking over as the Lady Tigers' coach was designating Rushing's role. He first put her at the point at a camp last summer.
"Down in Arkansas, he told me I was our best man for the job," Rushing said. "I took it on and went with it. It's great because I'm the leader out there."
Point guard isn't entirely new to Rushing, but the opportunity for playing time at the point wasn't there until this season. She respected her predecessors at point guard enough to pay close attention to 2020 grad Madi Braden and 2022 grad Riley Boggs over the past three seasons.
"Riley taught me a lot and how to look for your teammates and before that Madi also taught me a lot," she said.
Rushing is a threat to penetrate and pass the ball to a teammate for an easy score or shoot the ball herself. She's one of a handful of Lady Tigers who have taken turns leading the team in scoring.
"On one night it may be my night and another night it may be someone else's night," she said.
