First meeting on their 7th-grade club basketball team, Lexi Oder, ‘27, and Remi Kingdom, ‘27, are the dynamic duo of the Boulder High Girls Basketball program. The pair first gained this nickname when they were the only two freshmen to make varsity at the start of last season. The nickname only gained more meaning when their on-court teamwork began to evolve into wins for the team and high-scoring games for both Oder and Kingdom.
Oder has been playing basketball for five years after joining a team to follow in her dad’s and brother’s footsteps. Oder says her favorite part of basketball is “the friends that I’ve made and its competitiveness.” Oder says that her goal in terms of her future in basketball is to play D1 in college, more specifically, in the Ivy League.
Similarly, Kingdom also wants to play Basketball at the collegiate level. Kingdom, who has been playing basketball since elementary school, and competitively since 7th grade, was led into the sport after trying many different sports at a young age, after which she found basketball to be her favorite. Kingdom loves basketball not only for it’s fast paced nature, but also for “the strong bonds that come with being apart of a team.”
Although teammates at Boulder High, Kingdom and Oder are competitors during the club basketball season. Kingdom plays for Rough Riders, and Oder plays for Hardwood elite. However, the pair haven’t always been club competitors. First meeting on a roughriders club team in middle school, they clicked immediately both on and off the court.
Kingdom says Oder is “super competitive and always gives it her all as a player. She is a strong player, and I love the intensity she brings. Off the court, Lexi is a very sweet girl, very smart, has a great sense of humor, and is someone you can always count on.”
Oder says Kingdom is “very dependable, kind, and funny. She’s consistently there when we need her, both on and off the court. If we need a 3 for momentum, we know that we can look to her. She’s also really dependable off the court and easy to talk to and confide in. If I’m ever struggling with anything, she’s always there to help me through it. She’s also very hard-working, especially in basketball.”
Both Oder and Kingdom share that being freshmen on an upperclassman-dominated team last year brought them closer together. When asked why they believed they were nicknamed the dynamic duo, Oder said: “There aren’t many freshmen that make varsity, so I think when Remi and I not only made varsity but also played really well off of each other and were able to start, people started to call us a dynamic duo,” and Kingdom said: “It is not common for Freshman to come in and contribute on varsity, and for both of us to be able to contribute to the team as Freshman, I think it is easy for people to consider us a dynamic duo.”
Their impressive stats only prove why they are known as the dynamic duo. With Oder and Kingdom both playing point guard their main objective every game is to score. Together the pair totaled an astounding 426 points over the course of last season. Kingdom and Oder individually averaged over 9 points per game last season, tied for the second most on the team.
Being just freshman last season, their talents both individually and together took the Boulder High Girls’ basketball community by storm. Oder believes they found so much success together because they “both share a common goal and passion/love for basketball.”
With a new season just beginning and the dynamic duo returning to the court for varsity, both girls have large goals for this year. Both hoping to make it to the state championships this year, and they believe that their relatively new coaching staff who took them far last season, will play a big role in that. Kingdom says “As a team, we all want to be a playoff team. We are all working hard for that spot and to prove people wrong.”
Individually, Oder wants to “be as much of a hustle player as possible” and “get a triple-double or double-double this season.” Kingdom hopes to “become a better all-around player this season.”
Both Oder and Kingdom say that the team dynamic is a positive one. Oder says “On the court, we hold each other to high standards, playing hard and extremely competitively, but off the court, we let loose and have fun. We always feel like a family, whether it’s during a game/practice or during team bonding.”
Kingdom says her favorite memory of Boulder High Basketball is “beating Fairview last year.” The team can only hope for another year of beating Fairview. With Lexi Oder and Remi Kingdom back on the court as the dynamic duo, this task will be a fun and exciting one to see completed.
