Never forget your basketball when writing finals.

Dominating the court with her precision passing instead of towering height, Huskies women’s basketball point guard Kabree Howard defies the norm that only tall people can be successful in the sport.

Howard, who at five foot five is the shortest player on the team, logs some big-time minutes on the court. In only her third year with the club she leads the Huskies in assists and playing time. Howard averages nearly 34 minutes each game and has racked up 36 assists through 10 games this season.

Howard, an arts and science student, plans on going into education and hopes to one day teach math and chemistry to high school students.

She said she is greatly influenced by her parents, who are both teachers.

“When I hear them talk about school and the impact they make on kids’ lives, that’s what drives me to want to be a teacher,” Howard said.

Apparently her parents’ taste in sport, wasn’t as influential. Her mother judges international figure skating while her father is the referee-in-chief of the Saskatchewan Hockey Association. Their love for ice sports didn’t transfer to Kabree.

“I did learn to skate, and that’s about it,” Howard said of her childhood efforts at ice sports. “I don’t even remember why I didn’t get into it, but [my parents] have said I didn’t even like doing physical activity when I was younger, which no one would believe now.”

Howard says her parents don’t understand all the technicalities of basketball, but they have still always made an effort to watch as many games as possible. Howard’s mother even tuned in from Japan when she was judging a figure skating tournament.

“I thought that was pretty cool that she was watching the game halfway across the world,” Howard said.

Howard has a younger sister, Kylee, who also plays basketball. When Kabree was still living at home in Regina, the two would often sharpen their skills playing one-on-one in their driveway.

“We used to always call it three up. There would be two shooting games and then we’d play one-on-one and it was a best of three. Even if it was tied after the shooting games, I don’t think I ever lost in the one-on-one, and sometimes it got a little dirty to make sure I won,” Howard said. “She’s a good sister for taking it all.”

Away from school and basketball, Howard says she enjoys doing yoga and acrobatic stunts that she performs during practice for her teammates sometimes.

She also admits to having a bad habit of eating too much Pure — her favourite brand of frozen yogurt — remembering that she was hooked on the tasty treat last year.

“Luckily I’ve toned down a little bit, but it was getting bad last season. I think for about three months I made a weekly visit to the frozen yogurt bar.”

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Photo: Cole Guenter/The Sheaf