Business freshman Katie Youngblood has been making strides as a first year point guard for Loyola’s women’s basketball team. Straight from Georgetown, Tx., Youngblood is off to a powerful start according to assistant coach Beck Flanagan.

“Katie’s doing a great job, she’s played a lot of important minutes for us,” Flanagan said.

Youngblood served as team captain for her high school basketball team both her junior and senior year. Still, a strong high school career does not necessarily translate into an equally successful career in college athletics.

“The college game compared to high school is just faster paced,” Flanagan said. “The players are taller, stronger, better and faster.”

Youngblood agrees that Loyola athletics have increased her own level of competition.

“It’s the same amount of time, it’s time consuming, but it’s a lot more serious,” Youngblood said. “You have to be very focused on basketball as well as academics.”

Flanagan has seen progress with Youngblood. Overall, the biggest challenge is to make a comfortable adjustment into college athletics. The initial entry into college sports can be a shock.

“You jump up a big level and it takes some adjusting and getting used to the pace of the game, the physicality of the game,” Flanagan said.

The added pressure of college athletics can be challenging, but it comes with personal gains as well.

“I’ve definitely become more mentally tough,” Youngblood said.

Flanagan has confidence in all the players this season and believes that Youngblood has started her season on a great note.

“She’s shown that she can lead the team very well,” Flanagan said. “Especially for her, you know, just starting off as a first year player.”

Youngblood surely attributes her increased skill to participating at the college level. Although, she may be playing the court with a different name than she had in high school.

“She’s nicknamed The Badass,” Flanagan said.

When asked to confirm, Youngblood can only laugh at the new name she’s earned at Loyola.

“Yeah, they actually do call me that,” Youngblood said.

Whether she’s referred to as Katie or Badass, Youngblood plans to contribute to the women’s basketball team the best she can.

Cami Thomas can be reached at [email protected]