Rochester’s March looking for extra time on the court

By Jon Moffett

Youngstown State University’s junior has taken on a leadership role with the team.

YOUNGSTOWN — When she was a second grader, Kaitlyn March’s mother asked her daughter if she wanted to go to basketball practice.

Since then, March hasn’t had enough time on the hardwood.

“I didn’t play a whole lot for the last two years,” March said. “But I really worked hard this offseason to improve my ball-handling as much as possible.

“There were some good players here who had graduated and I felt like there maybe a chance for me to fill some of their shoes and take after some of the things they had done.”

March appeared in 10 games as a freshman, but only four as a sophomore. She scored nine points during her first two seasons.

This year, however, her playing time has increased and so has her drive.

With increased playing time, March said she feels comfortable in addressing teammates and has embraced her role and responsibility as a leader.

“I don’t try to put too much pressure on myself,” she said. “I just really try to do the little things like and communicate with people about little things that might be going on both on and off the court.

“If anybody has any questions I try to answer them for them; just little things. I don’t try to coach the team.”

She added playing for the Penguins this year is easy because she has “14 best friends” on the roster.

“Everyone just really gets along,” she said. “You can say something sarcastically to someone and they don’t take offense to it.

“You can really just communicate with people and I know if I have a problem I can depend on anyone on the team to help me out in that situation. I think that’s what really makes it special.”

The 20-year-old junior is originally from Rochester, Pa. She was recruited by Youngstown State after a standout career at Rochester High School, where she averaged 17 points and 4.3 rebounds as a junior.

March has played in each of the Penguins’ seven games (1-6) with two starts.

Her 39 points rank her fifth on the roster, and her nine three-point field goals lead the team. She also has seven rebounds, three steals and one block.

She said her goals are to simply get better.

“I’d like to start playing a little bit better, maybe hitting a couple more shots during the game,” she said. “I’d like to improve my on-ball defense and really just help my team out a lot more.”

Although the Penguins are off to a shaky start to the year, March said the team’s goal is still to win the Horizon League.

“We would obviously like to make it to the championship game,” she said. “But we just want to get some wins underneath our belt and really just start playing well and have practice start paying off.”

jmoffett@vindy.com