AUGUSTA — Blood streamed down Jamie Plummer’s face as she stepped to the free throw line Monday. A gash above her right eye, the product of a stray elbow from a St. Joseph’s College (Vt.) defender, needed to be closed and the blood flow stopped before she could take her free throws.
“She had a true Kevin Garnett moment,” UMaine-Augusta coach Jennifer Laney said, comparing her sophomore forward with the future Hall of Fame forward who’s played with similar wounds throughout his career,
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Plummer ran to the Moose bench, got the cut and her face cleaned up, stuck a bandage over her right eye and returned to the line. After receiving some butterfly stitches at halftime, the sophomore forward never gave the cut another thought while playing the entire 45 minutes, regulation and overtime, en route to 28 points and 24 rebounds in a 83-79 loss.
As Plummer has shown time and again over the last six months, it’s going to take a lot more than a nasty cut to get her off the court. The former Richmond High School star is leading the Yankee Small College Conference in scoring (20.5 ppg) and is third in rebounding (11.6 rpg) despite illnesses that set her back and virtually wiped out her offseason conditioning.
“I had the flu and mono at the beginning of the season,” she said. “I’d worked out so much to get ready for the season and then I was on the couch for 26 straight days. It definitely wasn’t picture perfect.”
Diagnosed with mononucleosis nearly three months before the season, she didn’t really start to feel like herself again physically until just before Thanksgiving. She still hasn’t recovered the strength she’d worked so hard to improve so she could take on the YSCC’s strongest players this season.
Plummer isn’t too proud to admit she hasn’t been able to muscle with those players like she’d hoped. But those opponents would probably admit Plummer has become a much more difficult offensive player to contend with this season.
Last year, the Moose depended on Plummer’s production in the paint. Thankfully, mono couldn’t take away the jump shot she’d worked on developing during the offseason, so Laney can use her in multiple ways to take advantage of matchups.
“Jamie has played every single role you can play on the court this year,” Laney said. “She’s really worked on her outside game, so she’s become a perimeter threat as well.”
The 6-foot-1 Plummer is becoming quite fond of playing on the perimeter.
“I think I’m starting to enjoy the outside game more than the inside game,” she said.
Plummer has the speed and athleticism to exploit a lot of bigger defenders from the perimeter. It also opens up the low post for teammates who have a size advantage on their defender (Plummer is also second on the team with 2.6 assists per game).
She still does more than her fair share in the paint, where stray elbows are part of the lay of the land. Any player who wants to make an impact close to the hoop learns quickly that just maintaining through the wear and tear of the schedule requires extra time and effort.
“The season definitely takes a toll on the body,” she said. “Over Christmas break, I was in physical therapy twice a week trying to get through the second half of the season.”
The physical toll may be evident, but Plummer isn’t showing any psychological scars from it.
“She’s just so tough mentally,” Laney said. “She’s one of the most talkative people I’ve ever met, off and on the court, and she has so much positive energy. The other players feed off of it.”
Even as a freshman, Plummer never hesitated to speak up, Laney said. Now she is the only player remaining from last year’s historic squad, which earned the first United States Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament bid in school history.
The Moose gelled quickly and got off to a 9-4 start. They’ve struggled in January, losing four out of five, but Plummer is happy with the direction her team is headed.
“We’ve been in a little bit of a slump but I think we’re playing really well,” she said. “We’re still improving. We just need to push forward.”
Like Plummer herself has been doing for quite a while.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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