BNL alum back on the court: Messmore moving to West Washington to coach, teach
BEDFORD — Kristin (Pritchett) Messmore knows how to score points.
The former Bedford North Lawrence girls basketball star still holds the school's single-game record with 53 set back in 1988 against Terre Haute North. The shooting guard got that done when she knew, the Patriots knew, and everybody else in the gym knew what was coming.
She went on to become a 1,000-point scorer at BNL and later at IUPUI where she was the Jaguars' No.2 all-time point producer (1,342) and all-time top rebounder (746) when she graduated in 1993. And she was enshrined into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame alongside her father, Pete, in April of this year.
What Messmore may not have been as aware of, however, is that she has the ability to score points when she isn't necessarily trying. She scores off the court with her personality, her demeanor and her knowledge, and because of those qualities the 52-year old has been selected to lead the West Washington High School girls basketball program starting in the 2022-23 season.
HoF person coming to Campbellsburg
West Washington athletic director Darrin Russell, himself a former girls basketball head coach of the Senators, certainly knows about Messmore's tradition with the powerhouse Lady Stars program and realizes she hails from BNL basketball royalty, but he took note of more tangible traits when opting to recommend her for the job in Campbellsburg.
She's every bit a Hall of Fame person as well as player, and those are good to find to lead a program.
"Sure, I know about her heritage and that certainly doesn't hurt anything," Russell said. "I know her dad will be able to watch all the games on livestream and those two can watch game film together and discuss it, but that wasn't the most important thing by any means.
"I knew Kristin from coaching against her when I was coaching middle school at Mitchell (and Messmore was coaching at Shawswick Middle School) and then all of the travel ball stuff. Her daughter, McKenzie, was a couple of years older than my daughter, Rian, so we'd be at most of the same tournaments, and when Rian's game was over I would go and watch Kristin's team and watch her coach and how she handled things.
"I was really impressed with her and the style of play she wanted from her girls. It's a lot like how we did it here when I was the head coach. We'd get the ball out and go, and we pressed and ran all over the floor. I loved how hard she got her kids to play, so when this opportunity came up it was a pretty quick, easy decision."
Situation eases Messmore's decision
West Washington will actually be Messmore's third head coaching position. Shortly after graduation from IUPUI, she was the head coach at Indianapolis Scecina for a season, and at Westfield for a couple.
Messmore then returned to Lawrence County and was an assistant coach with the Lady Stars for a couple more years before shifting to middle school teaching and coaching. She took a hiatus from coaching for a couple of years when McKenzie and her son, Austin, were playing sports at BNL, but she's been coaching the game for 25 of the last 28 years.
Messmore wanted to start seeing some light at the end of the tunnel of her teaching career, and it wasn't occuring quickly enough in the NLCS school system. Simultaneously, she got the itch to give high school head coaching another try, so the situation at West Washington unfolded to perfection and she'll teach science and coach girls basketball for the Senators.
"I do love coaching kids and the only break I've taken is two or three years because I didn't want to miss my own kids' games," she confirmed. "They're out of school now, so I started getting a strong urge to coach high school again.
"And I also wanted to think about getting closer to retirement from teaching, but it just wasn't going to happen at North Lawrence. I love the teachers and principals I've worked with, but the teaching situation at Oolitic (where she moved with SMS was closed) just kept getting tougher because so many courses were being taken away.
"So I started applying to teach at a lot of other area high schools with the hope of helping coach in some way, and what I found out is that every single school was going to pay me $10,000 to $12,000 more per year just as a teacher, which means I'll be able to retire sooner. It's kind of unbelievable the difference in pay, so I just felt like I had to make the move.
"I almost went to Orleans, which is another great place, but my sister-in-law, Julie Pritchett, was also moving and had applied to West Washington and she noticed that the head coaching job had come open.
"So I applied at West Washington on a Monday, and the Angela (Girgis), the principal, called Tuesday to offer the teaching job, and I found out the girls head coach had just resigned, so they were really interested in me for that job as well. It just fell into place.
"They just do things right there. The facilities are incredible and the way they treat their teachers and coaches is top notch."
It worked out exceedingly well for all parties. Russell, who went 72-55 and led the Lady Senators to only their third sectional crown in 2018-19, was elated to learn Messmore had applied.
"When Angela called me about it I couldn't believe it," he said. "I was on my way home from one of my son's summer games when I heard Matt Myers had resigned. I called and let the school board know, and they basically told me I was going to have to step back in if we didn't find somebody, and my son is going to be an 8th-grader and I didn't want to miss his games.
"So Kristin applying couldn't have happened at a better time in every way. I'm really excited about it. I think she's a perfect fit and I believe she'll do great things here."
Reshaping the Senators
West Washington went 15-8 last season under Myers, but was just 3-3 in the PLAC and the Senators' schedule ranked 358th-toughest, or easiest, out of 396 teams in Indiana according to the Sagarin Ratings.
"I've had a couple of open gyms and I know several of the girls are out doing other sports and other things, so there weren't a ton of kids there, but there were some athletes and the girls are strong kids," Messmore noted. "You can tell they work hard.
"But we have adjustments to make. They played all zone defense last year, so they came down the floor and just dropped back and there their arms up, and I was like, 'Oh, no, no, we're not going to do it that way.'
"I want to play fullcourt, and press, and handle the press, so we have to learn a lot. They've got to learn how to set good screens and handle the ball, and learn how to play pressure defense. We have athletes, but I've just got to get them going."
A family affair
Messmore is going to have a family atmosphere with her coaching staff. One of her assistants will be her daughter, McKenzie, who was a three-year starter at BNL and hit a last-second, regional-championship-winning shot against Center Grove in 2017-18. After attending Hanover College and the University of Southern Indiana, McKenzie is finishing up online degree work in Early Childhood Development with Indiana Wesleyan University.
Another of her assistants will be Rian Russell, WW's all-time leader in 3-point field goals and Darrin's daughter. She is wrapping up her academic career with a degree in Marketing & Sales, and is returning to get her teaching endorsement.
"I call those two my young guns," Messmore said. "When I tell my players something those two will be able to demonstrate all of the stuff I can't do anymore because I'm 52 with a bad shoulder, bad knee and bad ankle.
"But McKenzie is really spunky and fired up to help me coach, and she and Rian have hit it off really well, so I think it's going to be a lot of fun getting to have my daughter there with me.
"I'm still looking for a JV coach, but this new opportunity and these two young girls helping me have kind of breathed knew life into me, and I'm really excited to get in there and get this thing going."
Contact Times-Mail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Messmore to lead West Washington girls basketball in 2022-23 season
