Garfield Playing Starting Role For Blue Hawks
Wolf Point native J’ell Garfield has wanted to play collegiate basketball for as long as she remembers, and her hard work has paid off with a starting role for Dickinson State University’s women’s basketball team this season.
Garfield remembers beginning to play the sport when she was only in the first or second grade. Her accomplishments have included receiving All-State honors in basketball for Wolf Point High School.
“I’ve always wanted to play at college,” Garfield said during a phone interview last week.
Moving up to the collegiate level was a transition for Garfield, but she was one of the top players off the bench for the Blue Hawks last season as a sophomore.
“My game is so much more fundamental,” Garfield said of how her play has changed since high school. “College is really about the fundamentals of basketball.”
Heading into last weekend, the 5-9 forward started all four games for Dickinson State. She scored 12 points in a victory over Midland, Neb. She finished with three assists in two of the contests.
She said the highlight of the season has been beating Midland and Tabor, Neb., during games played in Omaha, Neb.
The Blue Hawks will start Frontier Conference action with home games against Carroll College and Rocky Mountain College this weekend. This is the first season that the Blue Hawks are competing in the Frontier Conference for women’s basketball.
“I’m excited to play all these Frontier teams because I will get to play in Montana,” she said. Family members in Helena and Havre will be able to see her play in person.
In the classroom, Garfield is in her third year in Dickinson’s nursing program. After being a certified nursing assistant at Faith Home, Garfield knew she wanted to enter the medical field.
She carries a 3.5 grade point average. The women’s basketball team has the highest grade point average of any sport in Dickinson.
“It keeps me going,” Garfield said of the relationship with her teammates.
Her goal for the season is for the Blue Hawks to qualify for the conference tournament since only eight of the league’s 12 teams advance to the tourney. “I’m starting with that. One game at a time,” she said.
Individual goals include being a good team player and helping her teammates obtain success.
