HOPE — Bella Kilps has elevated her game this season.
Kilps isn’t your traditional varsity player since she spends one quarter playing in the JV game. The Hauser junior has given the basketball team a big lift off the bench so far, and the Jets are enjoying their best start to the season since the 2016-17 campaign.
Last year as a sophomore, Kilps played full-time on the JV team. She said all the hard work, coaching adjustments and also switching roles helped her grow into a big role for the varsity squad this year. Kilps was mainly a guard last year, but with a strong backcourt this season, she moved to a forward position.
So far, she’s strived in her new position. She’s provided the biggest boost off the bench, averaging 5.9 points per game, which is fifth on the team. She’s also fourth on the team in rebounding (3.4) and tied for third on the team in steals (1.7).
“I kind of naturally got that new role,” Kilps said. “I’m going to keep working hard and being a great encourager to other teammates.”
Kyle Shipp took over the Hauser girls basketball program this past offseason. He said a couple of the biggest things he noticed from Kilps was her ability to be coachable and her athleticism.
“She was like a sponge. She was able to absorb all this stuff that we were doing. The work that we did in the summer, and the work we did in the fall is all coming to fruition for her on the court this year. When you tell her something, she’s able to process that and then implement that into the game,” Shipp said. “She’s a pretty good athlete. She moves well. She jumps well. She needed a little refining, a little bit of a push for confidence in herself to see what you’re seeing on the court now. I’m really proud of what she’s able to bring for us this season.”
Kilps plays one quarter of JV to go along with her full-time status on varsity. Even though she admitted that fatigue could play a factor a bit, it’s also a positive for her. She added that it helps keep her calm and get the nervousness of the varsity game out of the way.
Shipp said one of the main things he tells his girls is that when you go in for two minutes, you have to earn an additional two minutes. He recalls in the Beech Grove game that the team made a run with Kilps on the court during the first half.
Shipp added that Kilps’ knowledge of the game makes her the versatile player that she is.
“One of the things that we wanted her to do is to learn everything. You can play guard, you can play forward, you can play at any of the five spots,” Shipp said. “That allows her to play multiple spots on the floor. You might see her on the wing, you might see her underneath, you might see her in different spots. That’s a credit to her of being knowledgeable of the game and doing what we’re asking of her.”
Her impact off the bench for the Jets, mixed in with a lot of upperclassmen, is providing the best start to the season in six years. They are 8-4 and a perfect 4-0 in the Mid-Hoosier Conference as they head into their last game of 2022 against New Washington on Thursday.
“Our program is doing good,” Kilps said. “There’s this new energy to the program, and coach Shipp has done a good job of trying to build it back up. We’ve been doing really well so far.”
