Green Valley’s Pickus goal oriented

Sarah Pickus hadn’t played a lot of basketball before her freshman year at Green Valley.

Pickus’ main sport was soccer, but because basketball and girls soccer are played in the winter in Southern Nevada, the 6-footer had to make a choice.

Neither she nor the Gators could be happier with her decision.

A senior post, Pickus is averaging 21.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game for Green Valley, which takes a 15-2 overall record and a 4-1 mark in the Southeast League into Thursday’s game at Del Sol.

“I didn’t really get serious about basketball until my freshman year,” Pickus said. “I was getting taller and I thought I’d have more potential in basketball. I played on a rec team in elementary school and didn’t start or anything in middle school basketball.”

Pickus had solid sophomore and junior seasons with the Gators, helping them win Southeast titles while averaging a little more than 11 points per game each year. But this year has been far better.

“It’s my last year and I didn’t want to let it slip by,” Pickus said. “I’d like to play in college, so I knew I’d need to take on more of a leadership role.”

Pickus has scored at least 18 points in all but two games and has had seven double-figure rebounding outings, including a 17-rebound effort against Tech on Jan. 8.

“It all started with the hard work she put in in the offseason and knowing she had to step her game up,” Green Valley coach Lorenzo Jarvis said. “She has the talent. It was just getting her to be consistent and bring it every game. All the hard work she has put in is clicking now. She’s putting it together on an every-day basis.”

The Gators play an up-tempo style on offense and press aggressively on defense. Pickus runs the floor well and defends well but often does her best work around the basket.

“Hands down, I think she has the best footwork out of any post player in the city,” Jarvis said. “She brings that other dimension that we need. We have great guards. I needed a great post player, and she has provided that.”

She and classmates Jazmine Jarvis and Danielle Christenson also have provided something else Green Valley has found valuable — leadership.

“I’m really bad at telling people what to do, so I try to lead by example and show people how to do things. I try to make it more positive,” Pickus said.

The Gators’ younger post players are the beneficiaries.

“I can’t put a price on how much playing with a player like that every day, practicing with a player like that every day helps,” coach Jarvis said. “Other players pick up a little bit of what she does every day.”

Pickus has a lofty goal of helping her team reach the state final this season, but it’s far from her top objective.

A candidate for valedictorian at Green Valley, Pickus plans to major in biomedical engineering in college. She describes it as a combination of engineering and pre-med.

She has started to receive interest from some colleges but wants to find a school that has the right mix of basketball and her field of study.

“The benefits from it will be amazing,” Pickus said. “And it’s a challenge. I’ve always been up for a challenge. I’m hoping to either go to med school after that or get a Ph.D. in it. I know it sounds cliche, but I just want to help people."