NATICK — Warning: scroll through social media at a Natick girls basketball game at your own risk. Even a few seconds looking down may cause you to miss multiple baskets.
Through two games, the RedHawks’ full court press looks in midseason form. There are stretches Natick will score multiple buckets before its opponent crosses the mid-court line.
The team traps anywhere on the court, pressures anyone with the ball and crashes through passing lanes to start the fast break. It then turns into a five-person sprint to the hoop to get shots at the rim. After all that, the process is put on repeat.
In the middle of the chaos is sophomore Kayla Dunlap.
Tuesday marked another chapter in her still young high school career. Dunlap scored a career-high 31 points during her team’s 70-33 victory over Framingham. Twenty-nine of those points came in the team’s 57-point first half.
“She’s a menace,” Natick head coach Oryx Cohen said of Dunlap. “She’s worked extremely hard. She has elevated to the point she can do anything.”
There was no wasting time for Dunlap, scoring three of Natick’s first four buckets within the first minute of the game.
While she scored in bunches, her first 30-point game wasn’t cakewalk. Many of Dunlap’s baskets came inside, fighting through contact. She made no 3-pointers and sank just three free throws. After a whole summer on the AAU circuit, it’s no secret where she has improved.
“Finishing through contact and my outside shot,” Dunlap said. “Obviously this game is physical and you have to finish inside and through any kind of defense.”
The play that stuck out to Cohen was a quick transition give-and-go between Dunlap and teammate Bridget Pole. After coming down with a steal, Dunlap dribbled to halfcout and found Pole open in the corner. Rather than waiting at the arc, Dunlap sprinted to the basket to receive the ball for an easy layup.
Cohen said that play summed up the first 16 minutes of the game.
“They play so well together. They play unselfish and make the extra pass. I don’t think I’ve seen a better half of basketball,” Cohen said.
In Natick’s season opener against Brookline, Dunlap, who was on last year’s Bay State Conference All-Star Team, scored 25 points. Even after a successful freshman season, she wasn’t expecting to take her game to new heights this quickly into the season.
“I mean no, not at all,” Dunlap said. “I was hoping to improve from last season, but definitely not like this.”
Dunlap’s coach, on the other hand, was not surprised by the leap she made. Besides improving her shooting, Cohen mentioned the small points of the game where Dunlap is more consistent.
“The ability to not only get to the basket quickly but to realize when it’s not there,” he said. “Now she has moves. Also she’s being way more aggressive cutting to the hoop. She is also crashing the boards.”
Against Brookline, Dunlap tallied four rebounds, three assists and five steals.
To end the first half against Framingham, Pole and Dunlap connected on back-to-back buckets in transition. First Pole found Dunlap for the layup, then Dunlap returned the favor with a long pass on the next possession.
To really push the notion she can do anything, Cohen put Dunlap at point guard for a stretch in the second half. And just two games into her second year on varsity, she felt right at home.
“It’s not usually my position, but I work with any position on the court,” Dunlap said.
With how well things are clicking just two games into the season, it’s hard to know what Natick’s ceiling is. Dunlap is hoping for a long ride.
“Get as far we can into the playoffs and get as many wins as we can,” she said.
