She Shoots, She Scores

It seems only fitting the record-breaking bucket was a three-pointer.

Glenwood’s Madison Camden, already the school’s all-time leader with 183 three-pointers and counting, added to her personal records last Tuesday by becoming the school’s all-time scoring leader in 5-on-5. Her three-pointer in the third quarter of the Rams’ 79-40 win over Creston gave her 1,296 points, surpassing previous leader Morgan Lucy.

Camden finished her night with 31 points – she hit 7-of-10 threes in the game – and a place in the Ram record books.

“My parents and friends told me I was 25 points away last night and they wanted me to get it at a home game because they thought it would be special in front of the home fans,” Camden said.

Coach Brian Rasmussen agreed. Just after Camden took a skip pass from Danika Arnold and knocked down the corner three, the coach called a timeout, and it was announced she had indeed broken the scoring record.

“He gave me a hug so that was pretty sweet of him,” Camden said of Rasmussen.

Lucy, a star center for the Rams from 2009-2012 before going to play basketball at Southwest Baptist University, remains the school’s all-time leading rebounder. She was in attendance Tuesday night, and she too hugged Camden after the game.

“I’ve always looked up to her as a player,” Camden said. “I saw her play a couple times when I was younger. I took a picture with her after the game.”
Rasmussen first saw Camden play basketball in third grade at a youth league game. Almost immediately the coach knew she was special.

“I would probably have predicted right there she was going to have this career to some degree at that age,” he said. “She’s been a pretty special basketball player for some time. She’s always been really talented with the ball but in her high school career she’s brought so many things to the game other than just shooting. She makes people around her better. She distributes the ball very well. She can play a lot of different roles and positions. She’s so much more than just a knockdown shooter.”

The 31-point night wasn’t unusual for Camden, who is averaging a team-best 20.1 points per game this season. She’s been on a scoring tear lately. She set a new single game scoring record Jan. 21 with a 40-point night against Red Oak.

“I have definitely felt good, we’ve been getting up a lot of shots at practice and I’ve been shooting a lot lately on my own, so I think that’s paying off,” she said.

Camden is also feeling better. She tore an ACL in her knee prior to her junior year but waited until last March to have surgery which kept her out of the first five games this season. While she still has some soreness the knee is “not nearly as bad as it was at the start of the season.”

“It was very hard,” she said of sitting out. “But my teammates were always supportive and told me it would be worth when I get to come back and play for the first time this season.

She scored 18 points in her first game back, a 66-45 win over Harlan. She also leads the Rams with 33 three-pointers.

Camden can’t tell you where her first varsity points came. She can tell you she never quite imagined she would reach the scoring record although it was definitely a goal, she said.

“I didn’t know if I’d reach it, but I was going to try,” she said.

She’s been playing basketball since kindergarten and was involved in volleyball and track before focusing on rehab and basketball the last two season. She has signed with Peru State to play basketball next year. She loved the Bobcat coaches, the campus and the fact the program stuck with her following her injury.

“It (the injury) didn’t seem to bother them whatsoever so that was nice,” she said.
Knowing her name is going to be etched on the Rams’ all-time records wall is “exciting,” she said. Assistant Coach Bryan Diekmann approached in the hallway the day after she broke the record and asked, “Do you feel any different today?”

“I said, ‘A little bit. It’s super exciting.”

But Camden isn’t planning to rest on her laurels. She and her Ram teammates are chasing bigger goals. Glenwood is currently ranked No. 1 in Class 4A and chasing their third straight state tournament trip. Last year’s loss in the state finals, Camden said, has been a big motivator this season.

“I feel really good with how things are going but every team always has something that they need to strive for, to work on getting better at as a team,” she said. “We’re working on playing more together as a team and showing up more on the defensive end. And communication. It’s the little thing that can make us for sure be able to get back to where we were last year but hopefully, finish it.”