Girls basketball: Wadsworth veteran Ana Pinkerton nears milestone

Back when she was a ball girl, Ana Pinkerton used to stand on a chair or bench so she could see over varsity players and peer into the huddle of Wadsworth girls basketball coach Andrew Booth. In those days her favorite player was point guard Sophia Fortner, who along with superstar Jodi Johnson led the Grizzlies to the 2016 Division I state championship. All these years later, the now 5-foot-7, 18-year-old Pinkerton is among the players seated in chairs receiving instructions from Booth. It's something she's been doing for four years, which makes her and childhood idol Fortner the only players to start at point guard as freshmen in Booth's 20-year tenure. Considering the Grizzlies have had some great floor generals in that time — Chrissy Pavlik, Taylor Woods, Rachel Goddard, Hannah Centea and E'Anna Won were the others — that says something. "I thought it was so special," Pinkerton said Thursday of her five seasons as a ball girl. "I always had so much fun with it. I looked up to Sophia Fortner and Maddie Movsesian and I thought the games were such special occasions. "I remember being really focused on the game. I recently saw a picture of me standing on top of the bench, I was so into the game." Nine years old when the Grizzlies won the state championship, Pinkerton was on the bench at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. She didn't fully comprehend what was going on and all the noise gave her a headache, but she was there. "It was such a loud environment," Pinkerton said. "I remember being kind of confused. I didn't really understand what was going on." Planning to major in criminal justice and minor in psychology at Bowling Green or Florida Atlantic with the goal of becoming a forensic psychologist, Pinkerton will be running the Wadsworth offense for the 98th time Wednesday when the third-seeded Grizzlies (17-5) host 28th-seeded North Royalton (4-18) in a D-II, Northeast 6 District semifinal. Of the previous 97 games, the only one she didn't start was on senior night of her junior season. Before she was a point guard, which she switched to in eighth grade, Pinkerton was a shooting guard who grew up playing for teams coached by her dad Brian. Before she was a shooting guard, which started when she was 7, she was a dancer — "Believe me, I was not good," she said — after being enrolled in classes at the age of 2 by mom Jennifer, a former cheerleader. Pinkerton, who carries a 3.67 grade-point average, also played soccer and volleyball growing up, but she found her niche when she started playing point guard for the Grizzlies, who with Booth as coach demand a ton from that position. "The word I always come back to with Ana is dependable," Booth said. "The thing that jumped out early was her ball handling was very advanced for a freshman. That stood out, and she's always been very quick and very fast. "The big thing for us is, I'm the hardest on point guards because they need to be an extension of me on the court. She was mature enough to handle all the pressure I put on her in the summer in that test run. We threw her into the fire, and she was able to take all the things I was throwing at her." Pinkerton vividly remembers being in the Wadsworth auxiliary gym shooting with the junior varsity team prior to the Grizzlies' first summer league game in 2021 when assistant coach Mark Postak walked in and told her, "You're in the other gym." "I got shoved in instantly and had to remember all those plays," she said. "I felt pressure, but I also didn't want to let myself down. I knew I was capable of playing on varsity. I just had to gain that confidence. "(Booth) was trying to see how much information I could keep in my head at once. It was definitely a lot, but I tried to keep a positive mindset. I knew in the back of my head that it was not supposed to be easy." It wasn't, but Pinkerton started every game and led the team in assists as the Grizzlies reached the D-I district finals. Having never missed a game due to injury or illness, the point guard hasn't left the lineup since. "Everything that we try to do runs through that position," Booth said. "I wasn't a point guard, but as a coach I look at the game through a point guard's eyes. If you can get on the same page with me, most of our kids at that position have turned out to be very good high school players. Ana is no exception." Though there were times early in her career when Pinkerton and Booth weren't even reading the same book, they are now not only on the same page of the same book, but the same line. For that, Pinkerton credits not only Booth but the players who were seniors when she was a freshman, particularly center Regan Simpson, who let her know it didn't matter how young she was, it was her job as a point guard to run the team. "It was definitely interesting," Pinkerton said. "I'm the smallest in the crowd trying to be the loudest somehow. I didn't want to annoy them. I was 15 years old, and 18-year-olds don't always want to listen, so I tried to get their advice and learn from their experience. "I can remember Regan Simpson was like an older sister to me. She always gave me good advice. At tournaments she'd room with me and the other young girls. She was just a super good role model for me." With younger sister Brooke, a freshman, now dressing for varsity games, Pinkerton is in the mentorship stage of her remarkably consistent four-year career. Though the Grizzlies never won a Suburban League National Conference title with Pinkerton at point guard — "That stings," she said — they have compiled a 67-30 record — 17-8, 14-10, 19-7 and 17-5 this season — in her career. Never a player concerned with scoring, Pinkerton is averaging 6.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.5 steals this season. She has 353 assists — 89 as a freshman, 91 as a sophomore, 98 as a junior and 75 so far this season for the oftentimes scoring-challenged Grizzlies — for a career average of 3.6. "She's incredible," Wadsworth junior forward and leading scorer Lauren Decker said. "I've been playing with her for three years now, and she just welcomed me right in. I've been so lucky to play with her. She's a really great player and is always hyping everybody up. "She handles the pressure really well. She's really composed. She's been doing it for so long it's her normal." Pinkerton's dad also was hard on her when he coached — "I have to live with him, so you never really hear the end of it," she said with a laugh — so the pressure that comes with being a Wadsworth point guard is now second nature to her. "I have to have confidence in high-pressure situations," she said. "As a freshman, it was more difficult to get inside (Booth's) head without him having to tell me. Now I know what he wants." As her organized basketball days near their end, Pinkerton is aware her next loss will be her last game, but she's keeping that in the very back of her mind. What she wants is to reach the regional level for the first time in her career. After that — who knows? — maybe she'll find herself playing in the state tournament instead of being a ball girl at one. "That's a strong goal for us," Pinkerton said of reaching regionals. "Everybody on the team is really focused on achieving that goal. "(The end) has been on my mind, but I'm not putting losing in my head at this point. I have a lot of confidence in our team and we all want to win, so I'm just going to keep that in mind." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.