Fifth Year Feature: Point Sky – Culbertson’s point guard mentality carried East Dubuque product to great heights across the bridge

Some traits of a team can be difficult to pinpoint as an outside viewer, especially at the college level when student-athletes have a career that spans five years or fewer in most common situations.

One thing that is seemingly easier to spot is the team's heart and soul, their leader, and senior Skylar Culbertson proves to be that for the Clarke University women's basketball team every second she's on the floor for the Pride.

Culbertson is the point guard, in every sense of the position. She brings the ball up the floor, she directs traffic on offense and defense, she hustles for loose balls, dives on the floor, and has the bumps and bruises to prove it.

"Sky plays with tunnel vision," head coach Courtney Boyd said. "She plays with a chip on her shoulder, a go out there and get the job done any way possible mindset. She knows she has to create offense for herself in a different way and the edge she plays with is just icing on the cake."

"She's an amazing player," Culbertson's best friend and backup point guard Izzie Peterson said. "She understands the challenges and pressures that come with being a point guard, it's a tough position to play because you're that leader on the floor.

She is the unequivocal leader of this Clarke team as she entered the starting lineup as a sophomore in the 2019-20 season and has only missed time due to a wrist injury suffered in the 2021-22 preseason that forced her to miss 16 of the Pride's 36 games that season.

Between every full season from her freshmen season to the 2022-23 season, excluding the 2021-22 season, her statistical averages in the three major categories, points, rebounds, and assists, have climbed year after year, going from 2.7 points per game as a freshman to 5.7 currently, going from 2.2 rebounds per game to 5.3 currently, and going from 1.5 assists per game as a freshman to 5.1 currently.

What's been behind the season-to-season improvement not only on the stat sheet but the intangibles, confidence.

"I have definitely gained a lot more confidence," Culbertson said. "I talk more than I did freshman year, I'm more open to using my voice and telling people what I think and telling people where to go."

"The main thing has grown within her as a point guard has been her confidence," Boyd said. "She understands the expectations we have of her and each game this season she has looked to try and improve on one thing."

That last stat category, assists, is the point guard's bread and butter and by the end of her career, Culbertson could reach the top of the list in career total assists in program history if she continues to dish out the dimes at that 5.1 assists per game mark.

In her season-high 11-assist effort on Jan. 19 at Grand View, Culbertson reached a plateau that only two other Clarke players have done before in totaling 400 assists in her career.

"This definitely means a lot to me," Culbertson said. "A lot of outsiders will pay attention to who scores the points, and that's not my first option. I love to get my teammates the ball, create for them, and make a play so being the third person to get 400 assists means so much to me is more important to me than scoring."

At the time of writing, Culbertson sits at 416 assists and will likely move into second place all time if she can record 10 more assists and can become the all-time leader in assists if she can get to 480 in the next eight regular season games plus however many postseason games between the Heart and NAIA tournaments the Pride compete in.

Like many of her teammates, Culbertson didn't have to stray far from her home to attend Clarke. The East Dubuque native took the short trip across the Julien Dubuque Bridge to join the Pride and that has been a big asset to her comfortability and success over the last five seasons.

"The support system from East Dubuque is awesome," Culbertson said. "Someone from the community is always here, family, friends, and even local teams in East Dubuque reach out and support me through social media. It's been great to have that support system and I don't think I would be as confident and successful if I didn't have that."

In or out of season, Culbertson is a mainstay in the Kehl Center, whether it's working on her game on her own in the gym, at practice, or even working the front desk both during the school year and over summer and winter breaks since she only has that short trip from East Dubuque.

With a lot still left to play for in 2023, it's difficult to imagine Clarke women's basketball without the presence of their point guard but we might not have to do that if her plans of joining the coaching ranks works as she envisions.

"When she had her wrist injury and I had to start in her spot, she took a new position as coach on the bench," Peterson said. "I've obviously played with her and watched her work but that was a different type of relationship we had, having my best friend coach me so she's already shown the ability to move into that role."

"There's always an adjustment period going from playing to coaching," Boyd said. "Seeing the game from the point guard perspective, she will be able to communicate to players from a different point of view. We're hoping to challenge her in a different way and we are excited to see her growth from a different seat on the bench."

"The plan is to be here next year and get my degree in social work and hopefully be a graduate assistant on the team next season," Culbertson said. "I would love to pursue coaching further in schools whether as a high school coach or maybe Coach Boyd will be looking for another assistant," she stated with a smirk.

Culbertson's presence will continue to be felt over the remainder of this season into next, her name will be in the record book live until her marks are passed by others, and the heights she has climbed will be remembered at Clarke and in the tri-state area for a long time.