Glacier benefits from Anderson's play in the middle
Mar. 4—Emma Anderson wears many hats for the Glacier Wolfpack girls' basketball team. That sometimes makes it hard for coach Amanda Cram to take her out of the game for a breather.
"There are some times I'm like, 'Girl, I just can't take you out of the game,'" said Cram.
There's many reasons for that. Anderson, a senior forward, is the tallest player on Glacier's squad, standing 6-foot-2.
She's the team's top rebounder, averaging 5.9 per game.
"She also is a great defender as far as just battling against whoever she's up against," Cram said. "What I've noticed more so in the latter half of the season is that she is tenacious to get rebounds."
Cram adds that Anderson, who averages 7.5 points per game and has the third-most points on the team (107), always has a little finesse at the basket, a place she has a knack for getting to.
"For having such a dominant presence on the court, she gets up and down the court as if she were a small guard," Cram said. "That is one thing that I think is really impressive — how well she moves."
Anderson is quiet and focused on the court, but everywhere else, she's a barrel of laughs and keeps her teammates on their toes.
"Fun is an understatement — to know her is really special," Glacier teammate Ellie Keller said.
Anderson said her use of humor is intended to ease tension and lighten the mood.
"I guess I just kind of use that to make hard things seem a little easier," she said.
Eller and Anderson came up together, all the way from travel ball in fourth grade to now both near finishing their high school careers.
Anderson recently signed on to play basketball for the University of Montana-Western in Dillon next year, with hopes of becoming a second-grade teacher or, "something with little kids", Anderson says she will major in elementary education at UM-Western.
Though she's dabbled in volleyball and softball, Anderson knew basketball was it, pretty early on.
"I've just kind of always liked it," Anderson said. "And then since I was in middle school, I just kind of knew I wanted to play in college."
In her spare time (there's not much) she enjoys baking and hiking, and of course spending time on Flathead Lake in the summer. If you're lucky, you'll be on the receiving end of her dessert creations.
"I'll make little desserts randomly," Anderson said. "Whenever I get bored, I just kinda make something up."
Anderson is an excellent student academically — she's Academic All-State — and of the game of basketball. She was an all-conference selection as a junior, as well.
"She is a student of the game," Cram said. "If I ask kids to watch film, to give me feedback, Emma's the first one to do so. She's a captain for a reason, and those are just things that you don't see in every high school kid."
Today Glacier (8-6) will host Helena High (6-7) at 5 p.m. in a State AA play-in game. The winner goes to the big show in Great Falls next week. Glacier has beaten Helena twice during the regular season.
