OPINION: The Underrated Part of Steien’s Record Breaking Performance

One would never have known talking to Lindsay Steien after last Tuesday’s girls basketball game at Blair-Taylor High School that the senior just broke a record that had stood for more than 30 years.

Lindsay Steien is officially the name at the top of both the Blair-Taylor and Trempealeau County all-time scoring leaderboards. Steien passed her father, Eric, and is now the only player in school and county history to reach 2,000 career points.

It was fun to be there to watch the moment live and see the senior draining long jumpers and sprinting through the lane before cashing in on an inside shot. The part that stood out to me the most from her big day, though, was the senior’s humility.

At the start of the year, Steien wasn’t all that interested in talking about the record. In her interview with the Times just after Tuesday’s game ended, it was clear that she still didn’t really want to talk about herself. 

“It’s kind of cool that I get to do this,” Lindsay said, “but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates, coaches, family, everyone.”

Every answer went back to the people around her, and it wasn’t one of those times where as a journalist you can tell that a high school kid is just saying that because their parent tells them to or because they don’t know what else to say. 

She meant it. Steien truly felt that the moment wasn’t only about her.

And to some extent, I’d argue if there was ever a time to pat yourself on the back, taking over both the school and county record is a pretty decent option.

Her humility could be seen on the court on Tuesday, too. It wasn’t one of those times where she was doing everything she could to break the record.

The first half honestly started pretty slow in scoring for Steien because she was passing to every teammate she could find.

It wasn’t about taking shots from bad angles and trying to get the record out of the way. She was dishing assists more than she was shooting, and she was smiling the whole time.

The record was something she wanted to share with her team, and it showed.

There was a timeout and an announcement when she did pass her father on the leaderboards with a three-point shot with 17 minutes left in the game. 

How did Steien react?

She let a slight smile show.

She hugged her coach.

She hugged her teammates.

And then it was right back to work.