Vikings from Vegas

Local alumnae boost college's basketball team

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The women's basketball team from Barstow Community College in Barstow, Calif., is having its best season ever, and six players on the roster from the Las Vegas area are a big part of the reason why.

Led by eighth-year coach Kim Ensing, Barstow had a 17-8 overall record and was fighting to stay on top of the Foothill Conference with an 8-1 league record heading into the last three weeks of the regular season.

Ensing, the only coach the Vikings program has ever had, was ecstatic with the newfound success the team was having.

"The only other year that we were this competitive, I think our record was 15-15," Ensing said. "We started out this year and we just wanted to be a heck of a lot more competitive than we were last year and we even surprised ourselves, I think. And not only are we competitive, we're competing for the Foothill Conference championship."

Fighting Rio Hondo (17-7, 6-1 Foothill) and three-time defending Foothill champions Antelope Valley (15-8, 5-1) in the conference, which is a member of the California Community College Women's Basketball Association, Barstow is making some noise this season and Las Vegas locals Danah Smith (Cheyenne), Antoinette McKnight (Desert Pines), Anaka Robertson (Las Vegas), Kim Fox (Chaparral), Cindy Fannin (Chaparral) and Madalynn Sifford (Cimarron-Memorial) are major factors in the team's success.

Starting freshman forward Fox (5-11) was among the Vikings' leaders in both scoring average (12.5 points per game) and rebounds (7.8 rpg) and helped set the tone for this season's big turnaround.

"She (Fox) spent a couple months at Dixie College (Utah) and it didn't work out, so she came to Bartsow this year and she's been one of the leading scorers and rebounders on our basketball team," Ensing said of her star freshman.

Another freshman forward from Chaparral making a name for herself on the junior college level at Bartsow is Fannin (5-11), who was averaging an impressive 8.2 points per contest while hauling down 5.6 rebounds per game in a reserve role.

"She's a freshman, but off the bench she's almost scoring as much as Kim Fox," Ensing said of Fannin.

Sophomore forward Smith (5-10), a graduate of Cheyenne, also was representing Las Vegas well, averaging 10.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for Barstow in a starting role.

"She's been so instrumental. Danah Smith, in my opinion, can do just about anything," Ensing said of the athlete, who was leading the Foothill Conference in three-point field goal percentage (57 percent) at press time. "She can score inside and out, she's got a solid, athletic build, she can deliver the basketball, she can defend. Anytime we go against a team that has a key scorer, we're always putting Danah on her.

"So she does the job on both ends of the floor, not to mention that she's a great kid academically. I can't say enough about Danah. She does her job on and off the court all the time."

Also contributing to the Vikings' success this season has been freshman Sifford (5-4), along with and sophomore McKnight (5-7), while sophomore Robertson (6-1) was red-shirted earlier this season.

"Madalynn (Sifford) sat out a year," Ensing said. "She's spent most of the season trying to get back into the swing of things and playing competitive basketball, but here lately she's getting significant minutes and she's improved her game immensely since the beginning of the school year.

"And Antoinette McKnight is one of the most coachable athletes I've ever had," Ensing said. "And because of her 3.8 GPA, she's definitely going to go somewhere."

Ensing -- whose team boasted its best record ever, while also carrying a lofty 3.1 team grade-point average -- explained that Las Vegas is a great place to recruit young talent.

"The primary reason (Barstow recruits heavily in Las Vegas) is because out of Las Vegas, there's not any junior college women's basketball," Ensing said. "CCSN had a program one year, and then the following year it was non-existent. And another thing is Dixie College has got a good women's basketball program, but they're about to go (move up to) Division 2."

Ensing said Barstow, located 140 miles southwest of Las Vegas on U.S. Highway 15 in the Inland Empire North region of San Bernardino County, is a perfect fit for some student-athletes.

"It's nice to have a good, quality program as an option for the high school kids to come to if they're not ready for university level -- and a lot of kids aren't. I think we're a real quality program for the local kids in Vegas, and we're just two hours away," Ensing said of the California school, which gives Nevada athletes special in-state tuition thanks to an agreement between the two states. "In fact, I'm on my way to Vegas right now with my assistant coach to go watch some games. I like a lot of the seniors in the area this year."

Ensing, who played basketball at Liberty University in Virginia and who was an assistant coach at the University of Utah before taking the head job at Barstow, said the city really appeals to her now.

"I've really grown to love the place," she said. "It's a small town. I can get to Vegas, I can get to LA. It's been a really good experience. I love it here."

After setting a new school record with its 16th win against Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga on Jan. 23, the Vikings returned to Barstow on Jan. 25 and defeated Antelope Valley (70-58) to experience another new reality for the first time -- life atop the standings in the Foothill Conference.

"It was a huge win for the program, for the kids," Ensing said of the victory over the Marauders. "I know it meant a lot to everybody. But we still have five games left in our regular conference (schedule). We have quite a few worthy opponents ... we still have to play Antelope Valley at Rio Hondo at their place."

But after going just 5-19 last year, having only one loss at home all season and having erased a 19-point deficit for a comeback win over Palomar, this Barstow team has helped put its school on the map this winter and hopes to continue making noise should the Vikings make the postseason. And with a sextet of talented Las Vegas girls on her roster, Ensing seems to be in pretty good shape to try to make some history for Barstow in the next couple of weeks.

Barstow travels to Palm Desert to play the College of the Desert (5-17, 2-5) on Wednesday before heading to Lancaster on Saturday for its regular season and conference finale against Antelope Valley in what could prove to be a pivotal game for the Vikings' postseason hopes.