By T. Scott Boatright
She stands 5-foot-2 but plays like she’s 6-4.
Whether she’s putting up 3-point shots from long range, taking it to the basket or dishing out perfectly-targeted no look passes to teammates, the senior dynamo named Ikeia Brown is the driving force for the Simsboro High School girls basketball team, which plays host to Choudrant tonight at 6 p.m. with District 2-B domination on the line for both.
Brown is averaging around 25.0 points per game for the Lady Tigers, who stand at 2-0 in district play with three games left on the regular-season schedule while the Lady Aggies will enter the game at 5-24 overall and 2-1 in 2-B.
“This is a big one (tonight),” said first-year Lady Tigers coach Matt Herring. “Whoever wins that one gets control in district. It’s huge. All of their girls know our girls. It’s always been a big rivalry game, but there’s a lot at stake tonight.”
Brown knows what’s at stake, too.
“The way we’ve been playing feels good because we haven’t won district in a long time,” Brown said. “So that’s something we really want, and it starts with this game against Choudrant.”
Last season Brown averaged 32.8 points per game as a junior and also earned first-team honors on the All District 2-B squad. The speedy Brown also averaged 8.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 6.0 steals and two blocked shots per game.
While she’s not scoring quite so many points per game so far this season, that unselfishness is by design according to Herring.
“She and I sat down and talked about it in the early part of the season,” Herring said. “We played a really tough schedule early on. And she was doing too much. Trying too hard, because she knew that she had to carry that load. When she gets the ball to them sometimes, they just don’t have the talent to finish, where she could. So she was trying to do too much. She was forcing too much.
“So she and I started talking about her just trusting in her teammates and sending them the ball on offense and then they would try harder on defense down on the other end. And she bought into it. She started getting the ball to them and that’s improved their offensive skills. That’s helped us play so much better the last month.”
Brown said her love of the game began on the sidelines.
“I just love the game of basketball,” Brown said. “I came from being a cheerleader and witnessing the basketball players out on the court and that built my interest in it. That’s when I tried out in my seventh-grade year and just started loving it and just started working harder and harder for it.”
Brown doesn’t let her size become a disadvantage and said that sometimes playing against boys — her brother Itavus is junior and starting point guard for the SHS boys team — has helped her playing against taller girls.
“I think my speed and my ball-handling gives me an advantage,” Brown said. “When I’m in a game I just lock in on playing basketball because I’m used to playing against boys, so playing against bigger players doesn’t really affect me because I’m not scared to go (inside with the ball).”
Her size hasn’t stopped her from being a team leader either.
“The girls look up to her because she’s worked so hard all her life to be as talented as she is,” Herring said. “So the girls really want to be the next Ikeia. Someone who can lead the team the way she does.
An honors student, Brown said she hopes to get a chance to play on the college level while majoring in either nursing or engineering.
Herring said he hopes a little determination combined with a little help from friends can make that happen.
“I’ve had a few people talk to me,” Herring said. “She hasn’t gotten any offers yet, but she is being noticed. I’ve had other coaches talk to me about helping me out and getting her something.
“We all know her size will likely keep her out of major (Division I) contention, but we all think she can play on the small-college level.”
