Laura Clark / Nelson County Times
Published: February 12, 2008

On how the team is playing:

I feel we are playing together. The game (against Chatham on Feb. 5) was probably our best game ever. The first quarter was great. We were boxing out. We played completely as a team. Communication is always a key. What we do, we get into foul trouble. Mental mistakes are more the mistakes we make. If you have no team chemistry, you have nothing.

On where she contributes:

As far as being an older player: talking and being able to be that voice out there to say, "Don't give up."

On JV, Ms. Whitmore was my coach, and she would always say, "Bring heart and hustle." So I try to always bring that on the varsity, too. Getting to be here by myself this year, I get to play and bring forth full effort. I still have a lot more to bring to the court. If I could just figure out what that is, I'd be great out there.

On team chemistry:

I always say if you don't like somebody off the court, that's fine. But on the court, we have to be a team, and act like we do like each other to succeed as a team. Leave those problems off the court. I can understand problems at home, but you've got to take basketball and make that a successful thing, so you can have something that you can call your own. It's something for me to relieve stress.

And to be able to have other people that you consider family and friends on the team when we get along. Even when we don't get along, we're still there for one another. It's good to have people like that there for you. It's killing me because these are the last games we have, and then its over for me. No more games, ever.

On the approaching tournament:

I think we could win. No matter how young we are, that's always the excuse. But this is the same team we played with on JV. I'm not intimidated by anybody, and I don't think anyone else on the team is either. We've just got to come and play ball. And not get down on ourselves. Keep enthusiasm, heart and hustle.

On athletes' behavior:

I can't remember which teams these were, but they were on the front page. They were really bad with their reactions to the calls by the refs. That and getting in fights and altercations on the court, that's not good. They're selling shoes and things, wanting people to buy their stuff. I'm like, "Why do you expect us to want to be like you when you've got such a horrible attitude-"

On her pre-game ritual:

They say you're not supposed to say prayers or anything, but it's our (Markita Martin's and mine) little thing we do before a game. We put our arms around each other during the anthem. Markita and I, we say a prayer. We always quote, I think it's Corinthians, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." She adds a little piece to it.

We think about all the times we've had on the court, and how close it is to the end to motivate us to always give 110 percent. She kills me every time. I'm like, Kita stop, you're going to make me cry. She's my cousin.

On becoming a basketball player:

I was always the cheerleading type, the girly-girl. I played rec league, and I wasn't very good. My uncle, Shawn, always motivated me to play harder. I guess, when I was younger I was always told, "You're nothing but a girly-girl." It gave me something to prove, to myself and everyone else, that I could be a basketball player. I'm tough. I can do that. If it wasn't for Uncle Shawn and God, I couldn't do anything, on the court or day-to-day life.

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