Kimball Cubs’ varsity girls’ basketball player Melanie Marquardt ended her senior season with the most career points ever scored for the girls’ and boys’ Cubs’ basketball teams. Scoring 1,820 points from 2000-2004, Marquardt topped the former girls’ basketball record of 1,347, held by Tammy Kuechle, and the boys’ basketball record of 1,688, held by Todd Spaulding. “It was kind of a relief,” Marquardt said, “because people kept asking me how close I was and I didn’t know.” Marquardt is being scouted for college basketball. She is looking mostly at division II and III colleges, but has also received letters from division I programs. The main colleges scouting her are the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, University of Wisconsin-Stout, and South Dakota State. “She could step in and play at the colleges we’ve looked at,” said Erika Matzke, varsity girls’ basketball coach. “She has the work ethic and the talent, it’s just if she wants to improve above and beyond what she is already doing.” This is the first year that Matzke coached this team, but she has seen an improvement in Marquardt’s game in that short time. This year, Marquardt has taken different roles on the team, distributed the ball more, and helped the team play up to a varsity level. With many of the team members new to the varsity team, this season was a struggle, ending with a 4-19 record. “It was a major adjustment,” Matzke said. “We had 10 girls take their game to varsity level.” One advantage Marquardt has for playing college basketball is flexibility. She had the same coach for four years and had to adjust to Matzke’s style her senior year. “She’s already done it successfully,” Matzke said, so it shouldn’t be difficult to adjust to another new coach in college. Marquardt also holds a state-wide record for most steals in a season with 203 her sophomore year. Marquardt is the daughter of Sharon and the late Ron Marquardt. She started playing basketball in fifth grade on the traveling girls’ basketball team. Except for a broken finger in eighth grade, she hasn’t stopped since. Her dad and two older brothers, Trevor and Todd, all played basketball. “Our family is a basketball family,” she said. Shooting hoops with her brothers encouraged her to try harder. “They give me a hard time so I try to prove my brothers wrong,” Marquardt said. Marquardt improves her game year-round by playing summer basketball. She played on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) summer league the past three summers. The league plays in tournaments all over the state and also played in Nebraska last year. “It keeps me in the groove,” Marquardt said. “There’s always room for improvement.” This summer she plans to play on a St. Cloud area team. “I love the competition with the big rivals,” she said. “It’s always a lot of fun when a lot of fans show up.” Marquardt is thankful to her mom, friends, and past and present coaches. She looks forward to starting her college basketball career. With the upsurge of women’s college sports like Gopher women’s basketball, Marquardt will have a second responsibility as a college athlete: to be a role model for young girls. Though a little girl asked for her autograph once, she still isn’t used to the idea. “It’s nice that they have someone to look up to,” she said, “and, hopefully, it’s a good person, like a basketball player or another athlete.”
