And from her freshman year as a backup point guard at Temple High School to her current role as a sophomore starter with Temple College, she’s proven time and time again that she has the ability to turn a game around.
In high school, that’s what made her an honorable mention all-district selection as a freshman, team MVP as a sophomore, first-team all-district as a junior and district MVP as a senior.
And it’s what’s made her conference Newcomer of the Year and TC’s lone first-team all-conference selection this season - and a big reason the Lady Leopards are making a return trip to the NJCAA Region V Tournament, set for Friday-Sunday at Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.
Temple (17-12) will play No. 16 Midland (25-5) at 5 p.m. Friday.
“I saw her play throughout her high school career and she did an outstanding job at Temple High,” TC coach Kim Sebek said. “I knew she would get a chance to go somewhere.”
Combs went to Texas-Arlington, but after seeing limited action as a freshman she decided to transfer for the chance at more playing time.
“We were fortunate she wanted to transfer closer to home,” Sebek added. “She chose Temple College.”
But the decision wasn’t an easy one, and Combs wasn’t too sure how she’d fit in or how well she’d get along with her new teammates.
“I knew some of the girls like Caitlin (Barganier from Academy) and (Marleah Akins of Belton) from high school,” Combs said. “I was still nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. I came here late and didn’t know if (Coach Sebek) already had everybody she was going to have.”
One thing Combs didn’t expect was to play as much as she has.
In January, teammate Kristel Munson suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the season, leaving Combs as TC’s only true point guard. That meant she went from sharing almost equal minutes with Munson to being on the floor non-stop.
But again, Combs has proven that she is up for the challenge.
During her senior season when the Tem-Cats were hit with a flu bug, Combs played with the flu and scored 21 points against Waco.
“It was pretty hard, but I knew we needed as many people as we could,” Combs said at the time. “‘We just had to play through it.”
In the 10 games Munson has missed, Combs’ numbers have expectedly risen. She’s had nine games with double figures in scoring and has averaged 7.2 assists and 4.7 steals per game. Her season averages are 12.8 points, 6.6 assists and 4.0 steals.
Sebek has tried to get Combs some rest and has worked several other players at the point, including shooting guard Brittany Bryant, who admits she’d rather not be there.
“It’s OK,” she said of playing point guard. “But I really don’t like it. I’d rather play (shooting) guard.”
Bryant added that she’s willing to do what she has to to help the team win and also is amazed that Combs has done as much as she has.
“Sometimes I don’t see how she does it,” Bryant said. “She has to bring the ball up the court every single time. I know she gets tired.”
Combs emphasized that point: “To be honest, I get really tired. But I know I have to suck it up because Kristel is out.”
The one problem, though, is that other teams know Temple is short on guards. As a result, Combs has seen teams go right at her to try to get her in foul trouble.
It was a strategy Collin County used in Temple’s conference finale as the Lady Cougars tried to erase a huge deficit.
Combs picked up her third foul in midway through the second half, and Sebek put Bryant in to run the point. After Collin got a small run, Combs came back in and immediately picked up her fourth. Sebek then kept her on the bench until the final few minutes, when she needed her sure hands to run the offense.
Combs eventually fouled out, but by then she had already put the game away.
“Most of the time if I see a ball or a (steal opportunity) I want to go get it,” Combs said. “But I have to play smart because I know I could get a foul. Probably every team we’ve played since Kristel got hurt has come at me because they know we are hurting at the point. I’ve just had to back up a little bit and play a little easier in case I get into foul trouble.”
But as Combs’ statistics and Temple’s 7-3 record without Munson indicate, that gameplan isn’t exactly working. Instead, it’s just making Combs stronger.
“Everyone knows that the point guard is our key player who initiates our plan of action,” Sebek said. “She’s competitive out there and knows what needs to be done. She’s one of those that you explain something to her, she’ll take it all in and accept it. I always knew what she was capable of, and she has become a better player and has done a lot of great things to get our team where we are.”
mhood@temple-telegram.com
