The South Summit senior breaks the 29-year-old rebound record

Emma Broadbents trainer describes her as a once-in-a generation talent.

In the course of her high school career, the 18-year-old senior at South Summit High School not only helped her team to go to the state championship tournament this season, but also destroyed Utah's career rebound record for the first time in 29 years.

“We started to follow this [record] Towards the end of last season and she has her 1,000. Received rebound in our last game of last year, ”said Matt Mapstone, the basketball coach of the High School Girls. “She needed 400 to break it, and she did that last year last year, so we knew it was available.”

Broadbent collected her 1,465. Rebound in a game against the Carbon High School in early February and exceeded the record of Makenzie Gillins by Beaver High School in 1996. She had 1,518 career rushing on Monday afternoon.

“It was actually crazy because my parents held my fingers for the number of other rebounds every time I started them,” said Broadbent about the Carbon High Game. “It was a lot of pressure because I think I needed 13 rebounds of this game. At the end of the second quarter I had nine or ten, so I was like 'ok, I can do that. I can get four other rebounds in the next two quarters. '”

And she was right – another player fouled in the third quarter, which gave Broadbent the chance to set up during an attempt to freeze and take her fate.

“The announcer went over the microphone and announced that I was just defeating the record and I just started tearing myself up,” said Broadbent. “It was just a moment when you really did. '”

Mapstone, who started with the Broadbent in her second year, said she was always a dominant player, the top scorer and an “exaggerated basketball IQ”. In fact, she had already crushed a state record by the end of her junior year by collecting the highest number of rebounds in a single season.

However, it was not always an easy trip.

South Summit has largely rebuilt in recent years, and Broadbent remembered one season with only three overall winners. But the endurance of the team has paid off, and the girls' team takes part in the State Championship tournament for the first time this week.

“It was difficult for us because we literally have 500 students and every other school in our region is over 1,100, 1,200 students,” said Mapstone. “It was always hard for us to take part in competitions, but we finally got through this year. Emma is a big reason. “

Broadbent seems as a basketball player, but she is a three-sports athlete. She also plays softball and volleyball and is obliged to play volleyball for Southern Virginia University next year.

“It was only the norm for me all my life and went from one sport to the next. I don't really know how it comes home after school, ”she said with a laugh. “Every single free minute I have at school I devote myself to doing homework so that I don't have to do it late in the evening, and then I will go to sports practices.”

Southern Virginia originally turned to Broadbent to recruit them for basketball, but she provided the volleyball coach on Instagram during her school visit. The trainer wanted to meet her and Broadbent fell in love with the team. She decided to follow the network over a tire because he was to pursue the pressure to cut off well.

“It's good to have pressure, but my mental health cost a tribute. I fell out of love for people [basketball] For a hot second, so I didn't really go through the recruitment process with a few schools. I had a few D1 schools that looked at me when I was a newcomer and in the second year, but I didn't have the feeling that it was right, ”said Broadbent. “Volleyball has always been the sport in which I can only have fun and I don't have to be good, but I have the feeling that I could be almost good because I only had fun with it, so it was the route that was I picked. “

Broadbent said she thinks about becoming a teacher and studying education. She is looking forward to the college and plays with her new volleyball team, but there are aspects of the high school that she will miss, namely her teammates, who grew up next to her as friends and athletes.

“We play basketball together since we were small, especially because we go to a small school,” said Broadbent. “My best friend, Mariah, plays basketball, volleyball and softball with me, so we connect a lot and we have a lot of time together. It helps us to work almost better on the square because we know the tendencies of the other. … the sport does not change, but the people they are nearby, and their friends, they all go to different places, so it will be difficult, especially in the first few months, but I look forward to new friends and have new experiences. “

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