Fowler provides a senior voice for Notre Dame

Alex Fowler is known among her teammates as the girl who sings -- a lot.

"She's always singing about random stuff," junior Jane Morrill joked. "Some random song out of nowhere."

Fowler also has been using that powerful voice lately to motivate her teammates.

"Every huddle before a game, she's always the one who pumps us up," sophomore Allyson Bradshaw said. "She usually tells us to play our game, run the floor, have fun."

The good-humored Fowler feels a little different as a senior this year than she did during her previous years on the team.

One reason is because she has stepped up to become a vocal leader who always remains positive and motivates her teammates before and during games. She also has become a better overall player, and is leading with her strong play on the court.

Fowler, one of two Notre Dame seniors, has been essential to the Bulldogs' offense. She is averaging 12.8 points per game, almost four more points per game than last year. She's emerged as her team's best 3-pointer shooter, converting 45.6 percent. She also moved from shooting guard to point guard during the season to help her team cut down on its turnovers.

Fowler and her teammates begin district play today after a first-round bye.

The No. 2 Bulldogs (19-6) will play a Class 4 District 1 semifinal contest against Ste. Genevieve at 7:30 p.m. today at Sikeston High School.

Fowler will need to continue to lead with her voice as well as her play if the Bulldogs have any chance of pulling off an upset this week in the same district as No. 1 Dexter, the top-ranked Class 4 team which already beat the Bulldogs by 14 points Feb. 9.

"I think I've taken on a leadership role this year with not very many seniors, and I think we needed it this year," Fowler said. "I think I stepped up as a senior. ... Already having taken the leadership role, I like being out there and being able to lead a little bit more at point guard."

Some needed offense

Fowler is a three-sport athlete at Notre Dame, also playing softball and soccer. She recently was one of 35 players in the nation and the lone athlete from Missouri to be selected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's High School Scholar All-America team.

Fowler, who plays second base in softball and sweeper in soccer and has been starting in each sport since at least her sophomore year, said her favorite thing in each sport is playing defense.

"Most people don't like defense," she said. "I love playing defense. With soccer, I just get the satisfaction about running somebody down and taking the ball from her."

Fowler has played solid defense on the court, too. She leads the team with 61 steals and has grabbed 42 defensive rebounds in 25 games.

But it is Fowler's offensive production and versatility that has sparked the Bulldogs.

"I like to shoot," she said. "I think that's one of my strong points on offense. That's my favorite thing to do on offense, obviously, is to shoot. I prefer to do that than have to drive. I think this year I feel a lot more comfortable shooting outside."

Notre Dame's top 3-point shooter from last year, Emily Brumitt, did not play the first eight games this year, and Fowler knew she needed to step up from outside early.

"I just knew that I would step up a little more, obviously, with one of our shooters gone," she said.

Fowler has opened up Morrill's inside game by being a scoring threat from outside. Fowler leads the Bulldogs in 3-point field goal percentage (46 percent) while having taken the most 3-point attempts (52 of 114).

Fowler is shooting 69.1 percent from the field overall. She is the second-leading scorer on her team behind Morrill, who is averaging 15.4 points per game. Bradshaw is the only other player averaging in double figures with 11.1 points per game.

"I've always considered her a pretty big scorer for us," Morrill said about Fowler. "I guess this year being her senior year, she just stepped up real good and she's pretty much a playmaker."

Needed leadership

Fowler said most of her speeches happen in the huddle after the lineups are introduced right before games.

"I'm basically telling them that the other team is not that good, and if we play really hard, we can beat them," Fowler said. "We just have to play our A game."

Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said one of the strongest aspects of Fowler's leadership is that she always remains positive, even during the most difficult stages of a contest. Peters uses Fowler more than most any player.

"I think I give her fewer breaks than anyone on the team," Peters said. "I try to keep rotations so everyone has fresh legs, but Alex sometimes gets overlooked because she's a workhorse. I'll ask her, 'Do you need out?' She'll say, 'I'm fine.' I'm like, 'Thank you.'"

Bradshaw, who was the point guard and moved to shooting guard, said Fowler was switched to point guard to cut down on turnovers. Bradshaw was struggling to find open shots at point guard, so the switch also was to provide her with better open looks.

"She has stepped up at [point guard]," Bradshaw said. "She calls plays before even coach Peters calls the plays. She's just a great leader. She knows what coach Peters would want her to do, and she knows the defense."

Fowler thought moving to point guard would be difficult, but she has enjoyed it.

"I just like to keep everybody together if we're falling apart or if we're having a game where we're not in sync," Fowler said. "From the point guard position, I am able to call plays and do all that stuff and basically run it."

Morrill added about Fowler: "She very rarely has any breaks because she's in such good shape. ... She starts all the plays so it's really key to have her in there a lot."