Broomfield – Anna Prins can be picked out of a crowd.
It was easy to do when she was the tallest kid at the small Catholic school she attended until the eighth grade, and it has been easy to do since she stepped on the court this season as the tallest girls high school basketball player to play in Colorado.
Standing a quarter-inch shy of 6-foot-6 at the age of 15, the Broomfield High School freshman is attracting attention after only 14 games of varsity basketball.
But that’s nothing new. Prins has been getting looks most of her life.
“I pretty much have always been the tallest kid in my class,” she said.
Prins sprouted past her mom, Nancy, who is 5-10, in the fifth grade, though she may not reach 6-10, the height of her dad, Ardell, who played for Colorado State. And while it can be fun to reach the top shelf at the supermarket or find your friends in a crowd, there always is that wise guy who has to ask how the weather is “up there.”
When Prins topped 6-1 in the sixth grade, a full foot taller than the average boy or girl at that age, self-consciousness could have crept in. To literally stand head and shoulders above everybody else must have been almost too much to bear for a young girl, right?
“I see people looking at me and I just stand taller,” Prins said.
That is an admirable sign of confidence for any teenager. But surely the pressure of moving into a starting role for the Broomfield Eagles, an incurable state title chaser, with everybody in the gym wondering what the nearly 6-6 freshman can do, must be a heavy burden.
“I was scared at first. … There are a lot of expectations, a lot of questions,” Prins said. “Everybody asks me if I can dunk, and I can’t. But I know what I can do, and I stay within those boundaries.”
Which means she plays the post for rebounds and blocks, and she shoots from under the basket and not from 3-point range. Not yet, at least.
“I’m working on a jumper,” Prins said.
What she’s doing seems to be working. Prins has scored in double figures in all but two games and recently put up a season-high 19 points against Berthoud. She has recorded four double-doubles (points and rebounds) and has blocked at least four shots in nine games. She is averaging 13 points and more than eight rebounds. She finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks in her first varsity game.
“I was amazed when she walked into the gym,” Fossil Ridge coach Shannon Randles said. “Her height is very intimidating, and I never would have expected her to be a freshman. I’m 6-2, and I remember high school being a very awkward time for me.”
Berthoud coach Randy Earl had a similar reaction.
“I’m 6-5 and she is taller than me,” he said. “When I shook hands with her, our team noticed she was taller than me, too. When she’s taller than Coach, that’s a problem.”
Longtime Eagles coach Mike Croell went to high school with Nancy Prins at Broomfield and plays pickup basketball with Ardell Prins. Croell said he did not recruit Anna, but was glad she transferred from Cornerstone Christian School, a K-12 school in Federal Heights with 140 students. When he started coaching her this season, he got excited.
“For her age and size, she is not skinny,” Croell said. “She is pretty well put together. … What surprised me more than just her skills is that she is a very coachable girl. Her aggressiveness is great, and every night she gets double- or triple-teamed and she keeps her head. She never says anything to the referee.”
Croell has more than Prins to get excited about.
Also in this freshman class are 6-footers Sophia Rhodes and Chaundra Sewell, and all three started in a recent victory over Northern League rival Silver Creek. The other two starters, 6-foot Katie Calderwood and 5-11 Caitlan Stem, are juniors and will return next season.
Those players, along with a bench that goes better than five deep, have the Eagles at No. 2 in The Denver Post/9News Class 4A poll with a 13-1 record.
