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Salem Hills' Lauren Gustin tops the state in scoring in her senior year

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Basketball player Lauren Gustin is averaging double points and double rebounds during games at center for the Salem Hills girls' basketball team. Gustin has committed to play for University of Idaho next fall. Jan. 25, 2018.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Basketball player Lauren Gustin is averaging double points and double rebounds during games at center for the Salem Hills girls' basketball team. Gustin has committed to play for University of Idaho next fall. Jan. 25, 2018.

Salem • Salem Hills star forward Lauren Gustin stood next to the bleachers watching the JV game with her cousin James Nelson, a guard on the boys’ team. Gustin would pour in 41 points to propel the varsity team to a dominant victory over Uintah later that Friday night, but first she showed up at the gym to support her sister Savannah.

Basketball and family always have been intertwined for Gustin, who is averaging a double-double (29 points, 16 rebounds) this season. While Gustin’s family played a variety of sports — her brother Porter is now a USC linebacker, and her father John played football at Wyoming — basketball brought together the five siblings and both parents.

“Definitely competitiveness, we all have a lot of that,” Lauren Gustin said about her family of athletes. “So there was some pressure, but it was always good pressure to work hard.”

Gustin grew up with a half-court basketball court in her house. If she wanted to put up shots, all she had to do was walk downstairs.

Gustin, a University of Idaho signee, dreamed of playing Division I basketball since she was young. She had her mother, Scarlett, as an example. Scarlett Gustin played at BYU for two seasons before transferring to Wyoming and finishing her basketball career there. She still ranks third on the BYU all-time scoring average list (19 points per game).

Scarlett and John taught Lauren fundamentals in the early years, and Lauren still will take her mother to the high school gym to get in extra work.

“She just likes to foul on purpose a lot,” Lauren said, laughing. “She’s always just really pushing major fouls to teach me some aggressiveness.”

The Gustins moved from Idaho to Utah when Lauren was 12 years old, she said, which eventually would prove to be lucky for the Salem Hills girls’ basketball team. Gustin has been a regular starter for the Skyhawks since her freshman year.

What stood out to Salem Hill coach Kyle Francom from early on?

“Her skill level and her competitiveness,” Francom said. “Whatever that competitive gene that Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, people like that, have — she’s got that same thing. She has a will to win and to do whatever it takes to win, so it was pretty easy to identify. I wouldn’t be much of a coach if I wasn’t able to see that pretty early.”

This season, her last in high school, Gustin shot to the top of the state rankings, averaging three more points per game than the No. 2 scorer in Utah. She also ranks second in rebounding, behind Pinnacle’s Stephanie Sasser (19 rpg).

“I think it’s her preparation,” Francom said. “She works harder than anybody. I’ve never seen anybody who dedicated herself so much. She works out all the time, she shoots, so the success she’s having now really started months and years ago.”

Darting behind the defense to score layups in transition, winning offensive rebounds against three opposing players, snagging a steal on one end of the court then getting open for a jumper on the other; those are just some of the ways Gustin made her way to 41 points Friday against Uintah.

Business as usual. Yes, it was a new season high for the standout forward, but in a 85-42 win it was only natural that Salem Hills’ leading scorer Gustin should see an increase in production.

“How common is it to have a player like her? I’d say it’s extremely rare,” Francom said. “She’s one of a kind.”

LAUREN GUSTIN <br>School • Salem Hills <br>Year • Senior <br>Position • Forward <br>Height • 6 foot 1 <br>Leading the state • Her 29 points per game rank first in state. She’s also No. 2 in rebounds with 16 per game.