Lawrence High senior Danielle Bird has emerged as one of the top players in the Sunflower League this season. Bird has been more aggressive on offense than in past seasons and has established herself as a team leader.

Thirteen games into her senior season, Lawrence High guard Danielle Bird has seen basketball as she knows it turned upside down.

From the time she was 8 years old, Bird always was one of the youngest players on her team, sometimes playing with girls two and three years older than her because of her advanced abilities. Now, as one of two seniors on the team, she’s one of the oldest.

For as long as Bird has laced up her high-top shoes, she has been a pass-first, score-second, quiet type of player. Now, thrust ever-so-slightly into the role of team leader, Bird has been more aggressive than ever, looking to score often and offering words of wisdom whenever necessary.

Bird’s breakthrough did not happen over night. For much of the early part of the season, the 5-foot-10 guard sat back and picked her spots just as she always had. She let sophomores run the show and deferred to her younger sister, Taylor, whenever she was open.

But now, with the 11-2 Lions well past the midway point of their season, Danielle Bird has blasted through her barriers and is letting her inner animal run wild.

“All I heard for 18 years was, ‘Shoot the ball, drive more,'” Danielle Bird said. “Now that I’m a senior, I guess I’ve realized that I should step up and do that. I probably should have done it way, way, way sooner.”

LHS coach Kristin Mallory certainly would have enjoyed that. However, knowing Bird as well as she does, Mallory never expected her most timid player to step into the limelight. In fact, seeing Bird break out of her shell and emerge from the shadows this season has surprised the LHS coach.

“These last four games, Danielle’s really been awesome,” Mallory said. “I think she just naturally saw a need and stepped up to fill it. She’s been real aggressive and has been great for us. In moments where we haven’t been playing real well, she’s kind of put us on her shoulders and gotten us up to where we need to be. She’s always been capable of doing it, but hasn’t necessarily had the personality to want to do it.”

A big reason Bird never let loose before was because she was uncertain if she could.

“I just had never done it,” she said. “So I didn’t even know if I was capable of being that kind of player. But now that I have, it feels more comfortable.”

That much is obvious. The Lions currently are enjoying the view from the top of the Sunflower League standings, and Bird is a big reason why. She’s the only player in the league whose name appears in the Top 13 of all three major offensive statistical categories.

Her 10.2 points-per-game average ranks 13th in the league. She also averages 5.8 rebounds a game (11th) and 3.5 assists per game (4th).

Her sister credits the increase in productivity to a rise in confidence.

“She’s a lot more aggressive and confident in herself and in her shot,” said LHS junior Taylor Bird, an all-league selection last season who happily admits that Danielle is a better shooter. “Last year, she didn’t play the way she was capable of playing, and I think she’s making up for it this season.”

In many ways, Danielle Bird’s junior year was a major letdown. After a solid sophomore campaign, her numbers slipped a bit a year ago, and the Lions fell short of their goal of qualifying for state.

Although it stung at the time – especially the loss to Free State in the sub-state championship game – Bird said the struggle she endured last season had made her senior year even sweeter.

“This year is definitely different than last year,” Danielle Bird said. “I don’t know what happened last year, but something just didn’t click. This year, we’ve got so many new players, but we’ve all played together for so long that it just seems normal. I’ve tried to be a leader, but everyone else on the team is talented, and I look at them at leaders, too. To me, we’re all the same age.”

To this point, Bird’s senior season has been pure magic. But the senior who has been through so many ups and downs during her LHS career knows there’s still a long way to go before she calls her final high school campaign a success.

Bird and her teammates set a goal to finish the season with an undefeated record. That dream is out the window. But two of the team’s biggest goals remain – winning the Sunflower League and winning state.

Aachieving those benchmarks won’t be easy, but after years of avoiding the spotlight, Bird isn’t about to shy away from the task at hand.

“I talk about it every day,” she said of winning state. “I talk about it at school, at home, wherever. I’ve wanted this for so long, and I want it so bad. I want it even more now because we’re so close and especially because I’m a senior.”

Bird and the Lions will kick off a stretch of four straight league road games at 6 p.m. tonight at Olathe East.