Republic coach Kris Flood has seen Jordan Kabetske play a lot of basketball—enough to know when her opponents should be worried.
“We’ve seen her knocked down and get back up. She might look like she’s hurt, but she will respond back and she may even get a little bit of a mean look on her face,” Flood says. “That may be the time to get out of the way.”
Next winter, it will be opponents of Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla) who will experience that look. Kabetske has signed to play basketball for the Miners next year. She says a visit to the school—both its biology program and its basketball program—tipped the scales in Missouri S&T’s favor.
“It sounded like a great opportunity for me to go in and get a great education. They help you find jobs after you get out, and they’re good-paying jobs,” Kabetske says.
“I walked into the gym and it felt like I was walking into our gym here at school. I got to meet the girls (and) watch a practice. It just felt like home.”
As Kabetske watched a practice in Rolla, she says she got a sense of what it would be like to join the team next year.
“They were so fun, and they took everything seriously, but with a hint of competition. At the end, they still loved each other, and it was a good feeling for me to be around.”
Before Kabetske heads to Rolla, though, she has one more season left in a Lady Tigers uniform. She’ll be starting this season after coming off the bench as a junior, when she was the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 11.4 points per game.
“I’m actually really excited to start,” she says. “Coming off the bench was nice, because I could see what was going on and how they were playing. This year…I’m going to be able to help us all get out right (at) the gate.”
Kabetske and the Lady Tigers open their season November 24 at Camdenton.
