FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 19, 2020) – Just a month after finishing 26-3 in her seventh season with Puget Sound,
Loree Payne left the Loggers for Northern Arizona University in April 2017.
While the move offered Payne her first opportunity to coach a Division I program, it did mean leaving behind a group of women coming off of a perfect season in the Northwest Conference. Among the group was Northern Arizona point guard
Caitlin Malvar, who has just finished her first year of collegiate basketball.
Having dreamed of a D-I opportunity herself, Malvar's options were limited after finishing her time at West Linn High School in Oregon. On a whim, she said, her mother Jocelyn suggested checking out Payne's Division III program. A fellow former Washington basketball player, Malvar's mother and Payne spent time together in a competitive adult basketball league while the latter was an assistant at Portland.
"I didn't get any looks or didn't build any connections with coaches that I liked until I met
Loree Payne. And then I go there, we have a great season, we're undefeated in conference," Malvar said. "Then the second we finish, she says she's leaving. I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?
"It was a shot to the chest. I hated it. I was so mad," Malvar said. "I was crying. I was furious."
Malvar played a considerable amount as a true freshman with Payne, averaging 29.1 minutes across 25 games with a 2.04 assist-to-turnover ratio ranking No. 27 in D-III. Proving she could play in college, Malvar planned to look elsewhere before the opportunity to follow Payne and reach the D-I level came to fruition.
THE MOVE TO FLAGSTAFF
Once Malvar secured her release to speak to other schools, Payne and former Puget Sound assistant
Brandon Huntley brought her in for a visit.
"I knew Caitlin was very happy there. And if she wanted to stay there, I wanted to support her in every way," Payne said. "It wasn't one of those things where we were trying to convince her to come. Obviously, once she got that release and I knew that she was very interested in coming, then at that point we're doing everything we can to get her here.
"I knew she could come in and help us," Payne said. "I wasn't sure how much at that point, just because having only one year of college at the Division III level. I knew she had so much potential and it was just how she would transition."
Now 54 games into her D-I tenure, Payne admits Malvar has "transitioned tremendously," as the junior is second in the Big Sky Conference with 4.8 assists per game and a 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio as of Feb. 18.
Initially, Payne hoped to bring Malvar onto the court in her first season as she sought a waiver to allow her the point guard to play immediately while transferring up two levels. However, even with it being denied Payne said Malvar's year on the sidelines redshirting did well to help prepare her for what was to come.
"She was able to get adjusted to NAU, get adjusted to Flagstaff, get adjusted to Division I basketball," Payne said. "And we got to really work with her individually with player development. I think it ultimately helped her become the player that she is."
From her perspective, Malvar felt she could compete against the higher level of competition pretty quickly.
"I played a whole entire year guarding the starters, guarding the people that were playing in the games and were being successful in the games," Malvar said. "I told myself that I could compete with them in practice. And if I can compete with them, that I can with the other people."
As a sophomore, Malvar finished the year averaging 6.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 32.7 minutes. For the most part, her junior year has been the same with 6.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 33.4 minutes. But her ability to facilitate the Lumberjacks' offense, coupled with Northern Arizona's newly efficient offense currently third in the Big Sky at 42.4 percent shooting and second in points at 74.0, has led to the rise in assists.
"I knew she could distribute the ball. That's something she takes a lot of pride in. She's one of the most selfless players that we have," Payne said. "And you want that as a point guard."
That selflessness was on display earlier this season when Malvar recorded Northern Arizona's first triple-double against Sacramento State, scoring 17 points while adding 11 assists and 11 rebounds.
Upon finding out she achieved the feat, Payne said Malvar's main concern was hearing assists were part of the stat line as she had hoped to reach double-digit assists in a game.
OFF THE COURT ABILITY
Taking over a program seeking its first winning season, either overall or within the Big Sky, since the 2006-07 season, Payne admitted Malvar's most crucial attribute early on came off the court.
"I knew, at a minimum that first year, if she didn't get to play, that she was going to be a huge piece for us changing the culture. She's a kid who's a tremendous leader, is loyal and is clearly bought into what we were doing," Payne said. "That's what you want in your first year, a kind of that extension of you.
"When you get in a program and you've had a ton of success, you get to a point where you don't have to teach everything because like your leaders are the ones that set the expectation," Payne added, speaking of Puget Sound. "So when I first got here, I'm like, wow, I haven't had to teach culture in a long time. Coming here and starting from scratch, it definitely helped to have her for sure."
Both Payne and Malvar admitted the guard's personality is one that can rub some the wrong way, only magnified by her transferring in as a teenage underclassman from a lower division program.
"To be completely honest, it was a little rough around the edges. I do have a very big personality and I was coming into a team that also had big personalities. Although I felt like I had a bit of a step up on people, I almost had to take a step back," Malvar said of the start of her Lumberjacks tenure, having already played in Payne's system. "That first year here, I did a lot of learning and I guess I really do put a lot of that on the upperclassmen that were here my first year, because I was a redshirt. So I was able just to learn. I was able to soak in an entire year of Division I basketball without even having to play a minute on the court."
In Payne's own words, when Malvar is talking, the whole team is talking while she couldn't say the opposite, because her point guard "never isn't talking." From her first season in the program, Malvar's been a constant vocal presence, always working to rally the team regardless of the situation.
To Malvar, the trait comes from her family. Both her father and mother played D-I sports at Washington.
"My mom played basketball, my dad played football. They were both natural leaders throughout their entire lives," Malvar said. "They just sort of instilled that into me and I just have a really loud personality. I have got a big voice and a big voice is really appreciated in sports, just not so much appreciated in other activities."
"It was the perfect opportunity to come in, do what she loves and be the person that she is," Payne added. "And to kind of help mold a program is something that, you know, I think she took very seriously."
