CHICO — Pleasant Valley High School sophomore Ava Dunn is one of two captains that has led the Vikings to a 15-3 record and a 1-0 record to start league play. That includes six victories against Division I opponents — Rodriguez, Davis, Lincoln, Monterey Trail, and Oak Ridge twice. The Vikings nearly made that seven when they lost by two points to Division I Heritage out of Brentwood.
With no seniors on the team and their tallest players being 5-foot-10, Dunn’s effort on defense and rebounding the ball has been key to PV’s success as she is regularly assigned to guard the opposition’s leading scorer. Entering the season PV head coach Bob Paddock said the team would be similar to last season’s team with stellar shooting, but he and his staff were putting an emphasis on defense and rebounding.
Despite Dunn’s success rebounding and playing defense, Paddock said he hoped Dunn would get more involved in the offense, which would open up other players.
Dunn did just that in her most recent game against Foothill on Tuesday, converting on 2-of-3 3-point attempts and 4-of-6 free throw attempts and finishing the game with 12 points. She entered Tuesday averaging 5.1 points and 5.7 rebounds.
For these reasons, Dunn has been named this week’s Chico Enterprise-Record Prep Athlete of the Week.
“Ava is a very good defensive player but had the potential to be a very formidable offensive player as well,” Paddock said. “Unfortunately she had delegated herself to be a rebounder and passer to her high scoring teammates. It wasn’t until she was told that an opponent coach game’s plan was not to guard her, ‘because she never shoots the ball.’ Well she finally has a couple breakout practices and the Foothill game where she displayed what she can do offensively as well as the defense.”
“I knew with league starting I wanted to help my team more on the offensive side,” Dunn said. “We have AJ (Gambol) and Maddux (Wilson) who score a lot for us and I wanted to take some pressure off that — kind of make it better for the team in general.”
Maddux felt with her ability and confidence in knocking down 3-pointers from the corner, the middle of the floor will open up for her teammates to drive to the hoop.
“it will open the middle more because people are less likely to help off,” Dunn said.
Paddock emphasized that with shooters from the outside such as Wilson, Gambol, Shannon Fong, and Nyah Fortune, Dunn’s scoring threat opens the entire offense up. Dunn was just 2-of-5 on 3-pointers in 11 games entering Tuesday, but shot 2-of-3 in Tuesday’s game.
“I knew that I was better than what I was doing at that moment, so when the coach made the comment it kind of gave me an extra push to start doing more on offense,” Dunn said.
In her sophomore season Dunn applied to be a captain of her team, submitting an application in which Paddock said she discussed how she could lead by example and improve the team’s defense and rebounding. She said she could criticize teammates in a manner that is more positive than negative and help the team get back to a Northern Section title and make a run in the NorCal Regional Playoffs.
“This camaraderie really helps with our team chemistry which is so important for any success down the road in any playoff run,” Paddock said.
Dunn agreed with her coach, saying she wanted to get her voice out and step in as a leader on and off the court.
“I bring a lot of defensive aspects to my team and our big focus this year is defense and rebounding,” Dunn said. “So I wanted to get my voice out there and teach them to do more with defense and rebounding as well.”
As for what you may not know about Dunn, off the court she was also the starting catcher for the Pleasant Valley softball team her freshman season.
Like many student athletes, Dunn said sports are a key part of her life and who she is as a person, whether that be on the softball field or on the basketball court.
When asked about what makes this year’s team special, Dunn talked about the chemistry.
“I think we’re special because we’ve been playing together since third grade and we’ve kind of created a special bond with each other that is kind of hard to not trust each other,” she said.
As for her goals for the rest of the season, Dunn said the Vikings are aiming to go undefeated in Eastern Athletic League play and go far in the playoffs. As for her personal goals, she said she hopes to keep scoring more and keep helping the Vikings on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
Dunn and the Vikings play next at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Enterprise, before taking on Shasta at 7:30 p.m.. Tuesday in Redding. The Vikings then host cross-town rival Chico High at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pleasant Valley.
