University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Spotlight: Jackie Voigt
2/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Note: This is a feature story on junior forward Jackie Voigt that ran in the Feb. 17 Minnesota Basketball Game Program. Voigt, a native of Cottage Grove, Minn., has played in 26 of 27 games for the Gophers and is averaging 7.0 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds per game. She tied her career-high with 17 points versus Ohio State on Feb. 13, and opened the season with a career-best 14 rebounds against Northern Illinois. Voigt has had double-figure rebounds five times this season. She talks about her rebounding abilities, and about an off-the-court skill -- baking.
By Justine Buerkle, Athletic Communications Student Assistant
Jackie Voigt has been working on a skill she has learned to love: baking. Cupcakes are her specialty. She likes to bake them and give them to her Golden Gopher teammates. Voigt's freshman teammate, Sari Noga, described her as "super nice to everybody. She'll do anything for anybody."
When Voigt steps onto the basketball court, though, she does not seem so mild-mannered. Averaging a team-leading 6.6 rebounds per game, the junior forward plays with a tenacity that belies her personality off the court. Standing at just 6-foot-1, she has to do even more work than a taller player would to pull down all those rebounds.
"I think a lot of it is fundamental, getting your player boxed out," Voigt said. "A lot of it is knowing ahead of time where you think the ball is going to go, especially for offensive rebounds. Being in the right place at the right time has a lot to do with it, I think, but also just being super tough, going after everything, and trying to team rebound, even if you can get just a tip."
Voigt's contribution on the boards is not a new phenomenon. She averaged 5.4 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2008-09, and was second on the team last season with 5.0 rpg. With the 2009-10 team's leading rebounder (Ashley Ellis-Milan) graduating, Voigt felt even more responsibility to get rebounds coming into this season.
"Rebounding is one of my big focuses," she said. "I tend to be undersized, so that means I have to work even harder to get rebounds and make sure I'm getting my players boxed out. I am usually guarding one of the top rebounders on the other team. I think it has been a big focus for me all year. I think it came a lot with just getting stronger in the offseason and just getting tougher."
Voigt has recorded double-digit rebounding totals four times this season, including a career-high 14 against Northern Illinois during the season-opener in November. But the emergence of freshman Kionna Kellogg has taken some of the burden off of Voigt. Kellogg has stepped up in recent games and is averaging 8.3 rpg over the past six games and 5.4 rpg in Big Ten contests.
"It takes the pressure off everybody when more than one player can get in there and get rebounds," Voigt said. "It just makes everything a lot easier, having more than one person in there, and it makes it harder for other teams to scout us when we have two, three, four people getting big rebounds. I think that just makes us a better team."
Even with Kellogg relieving some of the pressure, Voigt still averages 5.9 rpg in the Big Ten. Entering Thursday's game, she is five rebounds away from having 500 career rebounds. She already has over 600 career points.
"I don't really keep track of my individual statistics," she said. "It's not really a focus of mine, but if I can accomplish that (500 points and 500 rebounds) after my junior year, it's good."
Instead of focusing on statistics, Voigt is more concerned with doing whatever she needs to do to help her team win. Some of these contributions are evident on the stat sheet, but others are more intangible.
"This year, a focus of mine has been trying to be a leader," she said. "I'm not a captain, but the coaches have made it evident that I still need to be a leader out on the floor. Just trying to encourage my teammates as much as possible, and really being that person who's always talking and trying to cheer on everybody and also give advice as an upperclassman to the younger girls and help them get through things."
This combination of production in games and being a good teammate has impressed observers of the Gopher basketball program. At last season's team banquet, the Fast Break Club-Minnesota's women's basketball booster club-selected Voigt as the recipient of its annual award.
"It's an award for somebody that they think exemplifies what it is to be a Minnesota basketball player," she said. "I guess they thought that was me. I was very honored to get that award, to be given an award by some of our biggest fans and see that they appreciate what I do on the floor. It really meant a lot to me. They're people that are our biggest supporters, and they're always there at our games and they're our biggest fans. They travel with us and they support us so much, not only monetarily by funding things, but also support on the floor."
With four regular season games remaining before postseason play, there is still a ways to go before this year's team banquet on March 13. But, as Voigt tries to help the Gophers finish strong, she is also making plans for the offseason. A sport management major with an interest in communications, she will probably be doing an internship with WCCO-TV's sports department to see if sports broadcasting is something she might like to do for a career. She said coaching is another area of interest.
But that is in the future. Right now, Minnesota needs Voigt to keep scoring, rebounding, and leading. There are still games to play-and cupcakes to bake.
