NAPPANEE - Most articles about NorthWood's Black Swish focus on Natalie Will and Amy Zercher these days. With two senior standouts on the Panthers squad, people sometimes forget other members of the team.

Carol Duncan is one of those team members who does big things for NorthWood. At 6-1, Duncan leads the Black Swish in rebounding with 7.2 per game while she averages 8.0 points per game to place third in the Panther scoring ranks. And she's a freshman.

Tuesday afternoon at the Black Swish media day, Duncan and the rest of her teammates were preparing for the state competition while Zercher and Will are surrounded and fielding questions from several reporters. When Coach Steve Neff calls her over for an interview, Duncan looks a bit surprised that someone wants to talk to her.

But like her more experienced teammates, Duncan answers questions with poise like a pro.

"To be a freshman on a varsity team with this much experience and skill is amazing and it gives me much pride," said Duncan. "It's great to be able to have this experience at such a young age.

"It will also be hard to top it in future years, but that's something I'm willing to work for. It will also be hard without Natalie, Amy and Angie (Callander)."

Some may think it would be a difficult decision to start a freshman on an experienced varsity team, but Neff disagrees.

"Putting Carol in was a no-brainer," said NorthWood coach Steve Neff. "She came up through our basketball program and had the skills she needed to play on our varsity team.

"She filled in well. Amy Zercher has taken Carol under her wing and helped her out. It's tough when you have three seniors and then plug in a sophomore and a freshman, but Carol has done a great job in her role."

And Duncan has learned her role and adjusted to it well.

"I feel that my best games are the games when I rebound well," said Duncan. "When I have a high rebounding game, I feel that I am contributing to the team. If I get a rebound and hand it off to someone else who scores, I am happy because I know I did my job and they did theirs."

Duncan has done that job in all but two games this season, but she had a bit of trouble with some pregame jitters before her first sectional matchup.

"I had a nervous breakdown before sectional against Wawasee," said Duncan. "All of a sudden I realized that if we didn't win, it would be our last game ever. I would never get to play with the seniors again and our season would be finished.

"I stepped on the court against Wawasee, and it all seemed to get better. Ever since then, I have been pretty calm. Before regional and semistate I wasn't nearly as bad as before sectional.

"I don't know what to expect at state," said Duncan. "I have friends coming from Ohio. My dad and my grandma and my family will be there. I don't really think it will hit me until later."

Although she does not know what to expect at state, Duncan is preparing for the game outside of practice.

"I've been sleeping a lot," said Duncan, "because I know I won't be able to sleep the night before because of nerves. Right now I am very excited, because I know we are ready to go down there (Indianapolis) and do what we've done in practice and we are ready to do our stuff."

One thing is for sure. Duncan and Neff, along with the rest of the NorthWood squad, have one goal for Saturday's game.

"We are going to go and play to win," said Duncan. "We won't be satisfied just being there, we want to come home with the title."

"We've just gotta go down and do the things that got us there," said Neff. "We cannot be tentative, we need to go at the other team to be successful." [[In-content Ad]]