Grace Lupumba shining for Alverno College basketball
MILWAUKEE — The path to becoming a successful athlete could have many different starting points. There’s the traditional route of being in an NCAA Division I program, performing well on that stage before having the opportunity to be drafted by a professional team. But there are avenues whose roads are slightly bumpier and less attractive to the scout’s eye but still have an appeal for those scouts who want to find that precious diamond in the rough: A player that is having the opportunity to shine at the NCAA Division III level. At Alverno College, Grace Lupumba could just be one of those athletes.
The 6-foot-2 center is in her junior year where she’s having a great season. Lupumba has thus far started in all seven games and is the team’s second leading scorer with 7.1 points per game and is shooting the ball at 38.9 percent from the field. Not exactly the most eyebrow raising of numbers but her true value of dominance is in the defensive categories.
Grace Lupumba is a forceful presence in the paint as she overpowers anyone who attempts to go for the same rebound as she does. Lupumba averages 10.1 rebounds per game of which 66.1% of them are defensive rebounds.But Lupumba’s work ethic and determination vaults her status into greatness. As evident in her other defensive metric numbers where she leads the team in steals with 16 and blocks with 12.
Not only does Lupumba have tremendous numbers in those categories but she’s influencing her teammates to have the same grittiness on the defensive end. Out of the 11 members on the Alverno College Inferno’s team, 10 players have at least one steal. It’s not a coincidence that Grace Lupumba’s efforts on defense have triggered a team rallying response to be fully committed on that end of the court.
But there are usually two sides to every player and the detrimental part to Lupumba’s game is turnovers. She’s not the player with the most turnovers on the team but she does have 30 from seven games.
Still, there’s no denying her positive influence on the team given her rebounding which she has 28 more than the second-best rebounder on the team, her steals which she has eight more than the next person in line, and her blocks which has four more than the next best player. If closer attention is paid to her numbers, there’s evidence that she is a quadruple threat when she’s on the court.
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