Family that plays together stays together

Posted 2/16/16

Cousins who grew up and bonded like sisters in Milford, Utah, Netto and Rose have been by each other’s side through, well, “Everything — forever,” Rose said during an interview with Netto and NWC head coach Janis Beal in Beal’s Northwest …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Family that plays together stays together

Posted

Northwest’s Netto and Rose grew together as people and players

Cousins, companions, teammates and Trappers.

Kennedy Netto and Chandler Rose don’t run short on descriptions, but the lifetime friends are long on history.

Cousins who grew up and bonded like sisters in Milford, Utah, Netto and Rose have been by each other’s side through, well, “Everything — forever,” Rose said during an interview with Netto and NWC head coach Janis Beal in Beal’s Northwest office.

Now in their sophomore years at Northwest College, the duo of Trappers have taken their joint playing days as far they can go, and that’s exactly what they wanted.

“We always wanted to play together,” Netto started.

“But we didn’t really know if it would happen,” Rose jumped in, literally finishing Kennedy’s sentence.

But it did, and in looking back, they almost seemed destined to don Trapper red together.

Earning their stripes

Their long basketball careers included four years at Milford High School, where Netto and Rose led the Tigers in all major statistical categories, and led their team to back-to-back top six finishes at the Class 1A state tournament.

Rose, a slashing guard with a penchant for grabbing more than her share of rebounds, and Netto, a 5-10 forward who can stretch the floor with her 3-point shooting, played a two-man game predicated on their natural talents, and their twin-like ability to be one step ahead of their opponents.

“I feel like I know what Kennedy’s going to do before she does it,” Rose said.

“We just kind of always looked for each other,” Netto added.

That game plan worked to the tune of a fifth-place finish at state in 2013 and a sixth-place finish in 2014, while both filled every night’s box score.

Rose averaged 17.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 3.3 steals per game her senior season, while Netto finished with 15.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.3 apg and 2.7 spg.

Netto averaged at least 10.3 points per game all four years of high school, and both Tigers scored 1,000 points in their careers.

Milford’s dynamic duo didn’t take teams by surprise. In fact, the Tigers often dealt with double teams from opponents trying to make anyone besides Netto and Rose beat them.

“All the other teams usually put two people on one of us every game. So the other person, we’d help each other out,” Netto said.

The gaudy stats and successful postseason runs would have been enough to attract the attention of colleges, and it did, but one unknowing recruit had the inside edge, and more than a decade’s head start.

Early registration

Netto and Rose’s high school careers just acted as confirmation of what NWC assistant coach Steve Coleman had known for years.

“They always played everything together. You could tell the talent level was there,” he said. “Numbers can be deceiving sometimes. But they were exactly what we wanted for our program.”

Before Coleman moved to Wyoming in 2008, he coached girls basketball for 13 years at Milford with Rose’s father, Rick. He left before Rose and Netto reached high school, but as a family friend he had seen the girls grow up and tracked their basketball careers.

“They grew up with my kids, and so they were kind of like my kids, watching them grow up, watching them develop,” Coleman said. “Now we’re back together again, 12 hours away.”

Coleman’s lifelong presence helped bring Rose and Netto to Northwest.

“We just talked to coach Coleman and he was pretty convincing from the get-go,” Netto said. 

“He was pretty set on us coming here,” Rose said.

A home away from home

Coleman was the bridge between Milford and Powell, a 650-mile drive, but it was Beal who kept any potential homesickness at bay.

“She’s why we’re here, 12 hours away from home,” Rose said of her coach.

Beal said she’s recruited high school teammates before, but never had relatives suit up at the same time. Because of that, she was wary of how they would integrate with the rest of the team.

“Their freshman year, the one thing I told them when we recruited them was they couldn’t room together,” Beal said.

Netto, sitting on the black couch across her coach’s desk, jokingly blurted back, “She never lets us room together, ever!”

But Beal wasn’t flexing her power as coach just for the sake of it; she was ensuring that the cousins became fully engrossed into Trapper basketball, on and off the court.

Beal’s efforts were well-received. After more than a decade together, a degree of separation was necessary to find individual success at the next level.

“And coach made it pretty cool, all through high school we were always like, ‘Kennedy and Chandler, together,’” Netto said. “And coach, when she first sat us down, she said, ‘I just want you to know you’re two separate people.’”

Beal continued: “Yeah, they were cousins, but they were different players, too.” 

Finding new identities

For reasons seemingly unbeknownst even to Netto and Rose, their roles and preferences as players switched somewhere during the transition from high school to college.

Rose attempted 73 more 3-pointers than Netto in one less high school game, while Netto attempted 571 free throws compared to just 271 for Rose.

A clear, inside-outside game was forged during their time as Tigers.

“Chandler was kind of always the shooter, she would always stay out on the 3-(point line), and I would do the opposite and drive,” Netto explained.

Rose chimed in, “It’s kind of switched now.”

Beal’s office filled with laughter.

“I always tell her,” Rose started, “In high school I’d rather shoot a three than a layup, but now I don’t even dare shoot a three. I don’t know why that switched.”

Rose is averaging 10.6 points and five rebounds per game this season, both third on the Trappers, but only nine of her points have come by way of the 3-pointer, while 40 have come from the free throw line.

Netto, who returned this season after a knee injury forced her to redshirt as a freshman, is averaging 5.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. She’s hit 10 more threes than Rose while attempting just two more free throws.

The finale

As the finale of their joint playing days approaches, Netto and Rose are searching for ways to move on together post-NWC.

Rose wants to transfer to Dixie State, and Netto is torn between joining her cousin in St. George, Utah, or spending a third year in Powell.

“It’s coming down to, do I want to be done (with basketball) yet, or do I want to move on?” Netto said. “Having coach makes it much harder because she’s such a great coach and makes it enjoyable here.”

Rose plans on studying radiology, while Netto’s own interest in the medical field was piqued during her time off the court last season.

“Once I hurt my knee and went through physical therapy myself, I decided I really liked it,” Netto said.

Before transfers are complete and majors are declared, the 2015-16 Trappers still have a season to finish, and neither Rose nor Netto are in a hurry to be done. 

Conference wins have been hard to come by this year, but they are still holding out hope that a strong postseason run can delay their inevitable parting — at least on the basketball court.

“We gave it a good run last year, and I think our team this year is just as good and can do the same,” Netto said.

Whenever it ends, both players agreed that leaving the comfort of home was worth it, and the distance and risk was rewarded with an extended family.

“It’s crazy how you just become family with all these guys,” Rose said. “I’ve always had Kennedy and now I have nine other girls that are just like that.”

Comments