The game drew her parents together, her mother played college basketball and serves as assistant girls basketball coach at Lakota West High School, and her three older brothers all played high school basketball.
So it makes sense that Fox was blessed with the basketball gene.
The 5-foot-11 junior point guard is one of the major reasons Lakota West, 14-9 overall, 10-6 in the Greater Miami Conference, is enjoying a winning season under first-year Coach Jay Chadwell.
The Firebirds beat Lebanon, 40-35, Tuesday night in the first round of the Division I tournament and face Kettering Fairmont in the district finals at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mason High School.
Fox is averaging 16.4 points and 4.7 assists per game, both leading the GMC, her coach said.
When Chadwell was hired to replace legendary Andy Fishman, who retired after coaching at Lakota for 27 seasons, it was comforting knowing Fox, and other talented players, were on the team.
“Katie obviously is special for us,” Chadwell said before a recent practice. “She’s a leader on the court. She’s a do-it-all person for us.
“A coach’s dream would be a good way to sum it up.“
Despite her lofty statistics that have drawn the attention of college coaches, Chadwell said Fox and her teammates believe in the team culture.
“It’s not who is scoring, it’s are we scoring,” he said. “Everybody wants to play minutes, everybody wants to be the leading scorer. We have a common team goal of winning basketball games. Every night you’re 0-0 and you want to be 1-0 at the end of the night.”
He called Fox “a team-orientated player who doesn’t let her accolades overshadow wins and losses.”
Fox, the youngest of four kids born to Mike and Christina Fox, said she remembers always being in the gym watching her brothers. That’s when she fell in love with the game she was destined to play, she said.
Her oldest brother, Matt, played basketball and football, and brothers Jon and Andrew played basketball.
She can’t imagine high school without basketball.
“I just love to play,” she said. “The more you love it, the better you will be. The more you work at it the better you will be.”
At the end of the every game, she doesn’t look at her stat sheet. Instead, she focuses on the scoreboard.
“As long as we’re winning, it’s a good year,” she said of Lakota West that started the season 1-4. “My main focus is winning all the time. Winning is the most important thing. We all play to win.”
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The Journal-News will profile a local high school athlete on Fridays. If you have a suggestion, please forward the athlete’s name and high school to Rick McCrabb at rmccrabb1@gmail.com.
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