Claflin’s Stiles, Ryan team up

BY LORI FARMER

Special to the Tribune

CLAFLIN — Claflin KSHSAA and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Jackie Stiles and 3-time state champion Emily Ryan of Central Plains and Iowa State joined forces to operate the Jackie Stiles basketball camp May 28 at Central Plains.

Stiles scored an NCAA record of 3,393 points at Southwest Missouri State, which was broke by Washington’s Kelsey Plum.

Oiler Kyla Metro, and Central Plains girls basketball coach Pat Stiles helped with the camp. The two sessions featured 160 youngsters in the 3rd-6th grades from Kansas and one student from Iowa. 

“This has been a blast running a camp in my hometown, where it all began for me,” Stiles said. “What made it even better was having superstar Emily Ryan helping me. She’s going to be the all-time assistant leader in women’s basketball history. It was an honor to work with her.”

Stiles was impressed with the youngsters.

“There was a tremendous turnout,” she said. “It shows the enthusiasm and passion for basketball in this area. We want to do everything we can do to help young players. There were so many players that helped us get to where we are today.”

Ryan said she appreciated the enthusiasm of the youngsters.

“It was awesome to see the kids and how excited they were to work hard to get better at basketball,” Ryan said. “Just knowing that I was in their same shoes just a few years ago, and being able to give back like that, is something I don’t take for granted. I’m excited to do it.”