Lady Griz Orientation :: Kennedy Gillette

Had he not been so preoccupied, he could have seen this entire story unfold as the bus shuttling the Montana women's basketball team to the Big Sky Conference Championship made its way from Missoula to Boise in March.

You'll have to forgive Nate Harris for missing the touchpoints outside his window as the Lady Griz traveled through Idaho. He had a lot on his mind that afternoon. The interim tag he had at the time and what it meant not only for his future but the five women in his life, his wife and four daughters.

Not to mention his players, the group he refused to give up on, refused to believe could not compete with the league's top squads, but a team that had yet to play its best basketball, and time was running out, one loss from the end. Would it finally come together, and what would happen if it didn't?

Had he known Montana would make a memorable run to the title game, would come up one second short of a championship, that he'd be named head coach of the Lady Griz a handful of days later, that one of his first signees would be Kennedy Gillette, he might have paid more attention.

As the bus made its way south of Dubois, he could have looked west and seen the Lemhi Range, where Austin Gillette, the doctor taking a break from his practice at Fall River Family Medicine and Urgent Care, spent time this week, mountains as life-giving therapy.

He may have been camping, maybe fishing, maybe hunting, maybe all of the above. It's why he lives where he does, his family residing outside of Rexburg. "I live in this part of the country because I have access to so many different places," he said upon his return to civilization, meaning phone service.

As the bus moved further south, Harris could have noticed the turnoff for Rexburg, the Gillette family living in the few miles between that city and Sugar City, Kennedy Gillette opting to go to high school at Sugar-Salem, that mid-major power of the Idaho prep sports scene.

Four years, four times playing in the state tournament, losing to state champion Timberlake in 2020, falling to that same team in the title game in 2021, winning a state championship in 2022, losing by two points to Snake River in 2023 in the semifinals, a team that would win in the title game by 13.

Going west now, toward Twin Falls, first passing within a few miles of the farming community of Paul, where Austin Gillette, one of five boys in the family, grew up, the family farm, besides sons, producing sugar beets, potatoes and grain.

The father's message to all five boys: Go forth and go for it. "My dad basically said, there are five of you. I don't want you all coming back to the farm, so go off and make your way in the world. If it doesn't work out, you can always come back," Gillette recalls.

As the Lady Griz bus made its way, Harris wouldn't have been able to see the church in Paul, where Austin Gillette's mother played the organ, putting in her hand something more valuable to a boy than gold: the church key and access to a boy's dream, the church's basketball court.

"It was like a high school gym. We kept it in good condition. I'd go in and mop it by hand. I just loved being there. If I was having a bad day, I could always go to the gym," Gillette says. "It was in my blood from a very young age. It became part of my life."

Basketball, by way of a broken ankle, showed him what would become the biggest part of his life: medicine. He graduated from BYU, went to medical school at Ohio State, came back to complete a rural residency program in Pocatello, ultimately landing in Rexburg, he and Rachel ultimately having four kids.

But basketball never left, not since those days he set Larry Bird and Larry Bird alone apart from all the others, read everything he could about the Celtic, studied the drills he used, incorporated them into his own time spent in the gym.

At BYU, he had a cousin on the women's basketball team, for which he became a practice player, giving him access to an assistant coach, Jeff Judkins, who played at Utah and was taken in the second round of the 1978 NBA draft by Boston, the Celtics taking Judkins right after they selected Bird. OMG!

"He told me stories about that," says Gillette, of Judkins spending two seasons with the Celtics. "It gave me access as a relatively young kid to see the inner workings of upper-level basketball and how it was practiced and taught and drilled."

It makes sense now, how a visitor to the family's hardwood-court gym, Austin Gillette's childhood dream becoming a reality a half dozen years ago, would have seen Kennedy not shooting at the basket, not yet, but at the thin side of the backboard, toward a mark that had worn down to nothing.

Do that, get that dialed in, and the basket suddenly looks as large as the court's center circle. "That was the biggest focus my dad always gave me, my shot," says Kennedy. "Or he'd pay me $1 per day to lay in my bed and form-shoot up to the ceiling. I'd have to pay him a dollar if I didn't.

"It was something he definitely put in my brain, that this is something you have to do every day to be good at it. That's where my shooter mentality came from."

The bus is rolling now, the miles to Boise clicking downward, the team passing by Twin Falls, where in 2002 the College of Southern Idaho hired Randy Rogers to take over its women's basketball program, taking a chance on a high school coach.

And who knew what to think when his first team went 14-17? What did he think? "What am I doing?" he said this week, the coach still going strong, now holding a record of 561-182, having sent more than 100 players from his junior-college program to higher levels of basketball, fulfiller of dreams.

His second team won 29 games, his third went 34-2, losing one regular-season game by three points, then not again until falling to Central Arizona in the NJCAA national championship game. CSI has been on the radar of Division I coaches ever since.

"That success catapulted us in our program," he said. "CSI used to be the crime scene investigation show. We put CSI on the map for basketball. Everybody in the country knows about us and is asking us about our kids. It's fun to turn on a TV and see your kids playing all over the country."

He's still going, but there are signs that maybe it's time to turn more of his focus to his four daughters, one in Virginia, one in Colorado, two in Utah. And those grandchildren, who promise that retirement won't be empty or quiet.

"What hurt me the worst last year, I had a young kid come up to me and said her grandma played for me," he says. "That's where we're at. I don't know how much I have left. Part of me feels like it's somebody else's turn to have this same opportunity."

His roster last year was made up of players from the type of towns you've maybe heard of but could never pinpoint on a map. Saratoga Springs, Arlington, Oakley, Millville. It's those players he's used to win more than 550 games.

"We're looking for those kids who are hungry still," he says. "I've always looked for those kids that might just get missed that have that extra fight in them, small-school kids who might not play the club ball but play multiple sports at their high school. We've done very well with those types of kids."

Austin Gillette had the world at his fingertips coming out of Ohio State. He could have punched his travel ticket to pretty much any destination and made it his home. He chose Idaho, then chose small-town Idaho, returning to his roots, knowing there would be a trade-off for his children.

Had Kennedy had easier access to club basketball, she wouldn't have needed the College of Southern Idaho to pave her path to Division I. She never would have been missed. Six-footers with length who can shoot the 3-point shot like she can? Line the offers up.

Instead, she had Colorado Mesa, a Division II program, and CSI. But instead of commuting weekend after weekend to mandatory practices, going from major city to major city for showcase events, she was living the dream back home.

"There is a trade-off there. You have to make a decision," says Austin. "Are we going to dedicate our lives to the travel-basketball thing or are we going to enjoy living in a small town and going camping and fishing and hunting and all those other things?

"You can still have the opportunity. You have to earn it a little bit more when you're trying to get there a different way. Even though she was dedicated to basketball, it was in a different way."

She loved Colorado Mesa, a Division II program in name but mini-Division I in spirit, but couldn't stomach the idea of using the school as a stopover in case her game flourished and a Division I program took notice and came calling. That wouldn't have been fair.

But what if there was a junior college just three hours from home, less than 30 miles from Paul and all those extended family members, with a women's basketball program that was nationally competitive and had a history of doing for others what she wanted: to get to Division I basketball?

"I feel like it's one of the best JCs in the country, for a lot of reasons," says Kennedy, who played in front of more family members at CSI than she did in high school. "They have a lot of resources and the people there make it so great. Randy is awesome. His goal is to make the national tournament every year.

"Having that winning culture was important to me in high school and at CSI, being around people who want to get better every day. It was really good for my development. The coaches were really good at helping me get where I want to be."

Southern Idaho went 28-6 with Gillette as a freshman, in 2023-24, the shooter averaging 9.0 points per game, mostly off the bench, hitting a team-high 41 3-pointers on 36.9 percent shooting from the arc.

"It was a big adjustment. I wasn't as used to the physicality, so I was more of a shooter my freshman year," she says.

Rogers knew what Division I programs would want to see out of Gillette going from Year 1, when she grabbed just 64 rebounds in 33 games, to Year 2. Become more of a rebounder and more of an overall threat on the offensive end, not just a stand-still shooter.

Last season, her 3-point shooting remained as good as ever, 52 makes on 34.0 percent shooting, but she upped her rebounding to 5.7 per game and got to the free throw line 114 times, averaging nearly 14 points.

"I got more used to it and more comfortable getting inside," she says. "My role grew a lot. I still shot a lot of threes but I got to the rim a lot more and rebounding became bigger for me."

Just another success story for Rogers – "She's come such a long way" – but not just another player – "She'll be missed. She's been one of my favorites. She was my Scottie Scheffler, just steady, someone you could count on. In two years, I don't think she missed a practice. Just Idaho tough.

The next player from CSI to move on and move up. "She can really shoot the ball and because of her length and ability to stretch the floor and her IQ – she knows what every position on the floor is supposed to do – I always felt she was going to be a mid-major player."

And just like that, the bus has made it to Boise, the next day taking the team to its pre-Big Sky tournament practice at College of Idaho, passing through Nampa on the way, site of Skyview High, where as a senior, Gillette had one of the most memorable games of her high school career.

After dropping that two-point decision to top-ranked Snake River in the semifinals in 2023, Gillette took it out on Teton High in the third-place game, putting up 40 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the 3-point line, her points and threes made both 3A state tournament records.

The bus would take the team back to Boise for the tournament, then back to Missoula a few days later, after the Lady Griz had reached their potential at the best possible time, the No. 6 seed taking down the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds before pushing the No. 1 seed to the brink.

Harris didn't know what his future held, if he'd be the next head coach at Montana or if he and his family would be packing up, leaving town for his next job.

But what he wasn't going to do was wait and see. He sent assistant coach Lindsay Woolley to Twin Falls, where Southern Idaho was hosting the NJCAA Region 18 tournament, where the Golden Eagles were going to face Salt Lake Community College the day after Montana's season came to an end.

Recruiting can be like that. "We didn't even have the job yet," says Harris. "Woolley watched her play and called and said, 'If we get this, she's a good one.' As we got it, we reached out and had her come very, very quickly."

CSI made the NJCAA national tournament in Casper, Wyo., when Gillette was a freshman, the Golden Eagles, the No. 12 seed, defeating No. 21 Connors State 79-58 in a first-round game before falling by 10 to No. 5 Gulf Coast State in the second round.

With Woolley watching in March, CSI, which had defeated Salt Lake CC twice during the regular season, fell the Bruins 66-55. The Golden Eagles' loss, which came with Gillette putting up 24 points and five rebounds, likely worked in Montana's favor. Gillette would be hidden from the view of others.

"JC recruiting is so interesting," says Harris. "If you don't make the national tournament, it can change your recruiting drastically. On the flip side, it you make it, it can change your recruiting drastically. A lot of people only go and watch the national tournament."

Gillette had everything Harris wanted for a player in his program. Length, the ability to attack off the dribble and shoot the 3-point shot, competitiveness, a willingness to defend. And this one comes with the added bonus of being a newcomer who has 65 games of college experience.

"We thought she was a good fit with her versatility and her ability to do lots of different things, and she has experience. She is used to being counted on. This last year she was her team's leader. She didn't have the option to have an off night," said Harris.

"That really forces you to grow as a player. She's seen a lot of scenarios and been in a lot of situations. There is no substitute for learning. The kids who have played those minutes are the ones who are going to adjust most quickly to what we're trying to do."

For her expected on-court role this upcoming season, picture the one Tyler McCliment-Call had last year. "She's got better size and length than Tyler, maybe not as powerful and explosive but has a level of consistency that should allow her to fill that role really well," added Harris.

"She's someone on the wing who is hard to prepare for. She can shoot it, she can get downhill, she can bring the ball in transition and will be scrappy and defend the right way."

That bus? It finally made it back to Missoula, followed by Gillette after Harris was named head coach, her visit confirming everything her instincts were telling her, that this was the place for her.

"The coaching staff was the biggest thing. I just felt very comfortable, very cared for," she says. "I knew I would be valued here and have good relationships with the coaches. That's something that is super important to me, something I had in high school and at CSI."

And style of play. Don't forget that. Because what player with Gillette's skill set and knowledge of the game wouldn't want to play in the system Harris will further implement during summer workouts, then fully install by next season?

"I felt like it would be perfect," Gillette says. "It's my dream style of basketball. I love playing pick-up basketball, where you just get to move, five-out, drive it and kick. That's what Nate sold to me. That's one of the things I'm most excited for, to be able to play that style of basketball.

"The experience I got at CSI, it gave me a confidence. I'm ready for this level. I'm comfortable being a big piece if that's what's needed."

She is going to get her Division I basketball experience after all, two years' worth, the journey a bit different than most but the destination still reached. "When she looks at where she's landed, it's really been the ideal scenario for her," says her dad. "She's been able to live the best of both worlds.

"In a lot of ways, I'm jealous. It's a perfect scenario. The community fits her well and fast-paced, five-out, read-and-react-type of basketball is always what she has done really, really well. She ended up in the perfect spot."

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Tyler McCliment-Call

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