By TIM TROWER
Like most people, Kelsey George enjoys free stuff. Especially free throws. The junior point guard for the Phoenix High girls basketball team is making them at an impressive 87-percent clip. She was 11-for-12 Saturday in a 65-50 win over Eagle Point in the championship game of the Berry’s Holiday Classic at Phoenix.
George shot 61 percent from the stripe as a freshman and 66 percent last season. So what’s the impetus for her vast improvement?
Her coach, Randy Kirkland, told her he wanted her to be “somewhere near where I was” when he was a senior at Illinois Valley in 1994, which was about 86 percent, he said.
“She’s trying,” said Kirkland. “We’ve worked on a few things, and she’s really focused on it and really trying to push it up there.”
The goal for the team is to shoot 65 percent, and it’s at 66 percent. George is doing her part.
