Many student-athletes who grow up in Manitoba dream of one day donning the Bisons colours and playing for their hometown school. For true freshman point guard
Taylor Schepp, putting on the wheat gold carries extra meaning.
Her younger years were spent at Investors Group Athletic Centre watching her dad Kirby coach the men's basketball team. Being around the program and the game helped foster her love for the sport, which has grown over the years.
"It means a lot. It's been really cool. For me, the dream of playing university basketball started here," Taylor said.
"Playing my first home games here, that was a really full circle moment because I grew up watching those games and really looking up to those players. Out of [Kirby's] guards, I remember [former leading scorer] AJ Basi and [former Canada West Rookie of the Year] Ilarion [Bonhomme II]. He was injured, and he was doing two ball handling on the side. I had never done very much of that. I remember being on the sideline with [Bonhomme II], and he was teaching me how to do different things with two balls. It was kind of cool."
Schepp played multiple sports growing up, but being on the basketball court was always where she felt the happiest. Her dad – whose 173 conference wins since 2009 are the most by any head coach in program history – never forced the game upon her, but he was there to support her every step of the way.
"I watch a lot of film on my own. He's never trying to push it and tell me stuff, but I'm always really curious. My IQ comes a lot from having conversations with him. I think that's grown a lot. I grew up with him rebounding for me all the time. I feel like right now I'm talking about basketball with him almost every day," Taylor added.
"I like having those basketball conversations and picking apart different plays. I'm kind of bringing that up with [women's basketball head coach] Michele [Sung] too, and trying to have a lot of those basketball conversations because I find it really interesting."
A two-way force, Schepp's IQ for the game åand work ethic helped her become one of the most highly-touted players not only in Manitoba, but the country. She earned MVP honours in the MHSAA 4A JV finals with Dakota (scoring 54 points), was a varsity champion with the Lancers under head coach Eric Sung in grade 11, and was the No. 1 ranked played in the province as a senior.
"Dakota was really good for me. I had lots of different roles on different teams," she said.
"In grade ten I was the leader on that team, and that was really beneficial for me. And then I came in in grade 11 playing with [fellow Bisons] Darya [Rom], Hope [Larocque] and [Regina Cougars guard/forward] Izzi Fust, lots of those girls. I was playing with some really talented girls at a higher level, and that helped me grow my game. In grade 12 I was back into more of a leadership role."
Dakota's up-tempo style of play has translated directly to the U SPORTS level. Schepp has started every game for the Bisons, and she's coming off a two-game career-high with 28 combined points, along with six assists and five steals in a weekend split against Lethbridge, while averaging 27.4 minutes per game.
"We played with a lot of pace [at Dakota]. We tried to run a lot of teams out of the gym. That's something that definitely transfers to university, because the pace goes up. Having already played at a faster pace, it kind of makes that transition a little bit easier," she said.
"The best part has been being around some really talented players. You can talk basketball with anybody, and everyone knows what's going on. We all have the same goal of winning. Being around that level of person and player has been really cool."
