West opened doors with play on court

Malone's Missy West wasn't the first area girls basketball player to play for an NCAA Division I school. But she certainly opened the way for the largest influx of north country girls to DI colleges the area has ever seen.

Since West's time at Duke University, players like Lindsay Adams, Dia Dufault, Amber Goppert, Erika Smith and Danielle Trippany have competed for Division I programs. Some even point to West as inspiration.

West first drew notice outside of her Malone community as an eighth-grader playing on varsity teams. She played soccer and even helped the Huskies to a state softball championship in 1995, but her No. 1 sport was basketball. In 1996, the four-time letterwinner in those three sports helped Malone advance to the state Class B basketball semifinals.

She averaged 28 points a game that season and was named Miss New York State in basketball, the highest state honor for a high school girls player. Her career total of 2,605 points ranked fifth in the state at the time. Malone retired her jersey number in all three of her sports.

West also excelled on the Empire State Games stage and had her pick of Division I colleges, choosing Duke over Syracuse and Boston College.

A knee injury forced her to redshirt a season, and the ailment plagued her throughout her college career. But she put together an MVP-like ACC tournament performance in 2000, leading the Blue Devils to their first conference title in school history.

West moved on to play professionally in Germany, competing for two teams over three years. She helped Gottingen to an unbeaten season, averaging 25 points a game. A year later, she was named captain of the team.

West has entered her fourth season as an assistant coach for the SUNY Canton women's basketball team. She's also the assistant director for the college's fitness center.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Watertown Daily Times' North Country's Greatest Athletes series appears each Monday on Page C2 of the Times sports section. The 100 athletes selected by the Times are not ranked in any particular order.