STARKVILLE — The Starkville High School girls basketball program will miss Brittany Brown.
But Brown’s example will live on, especially after the senior leader signed a scholarship Wednesday to play basketball at Itawamba Community College in Fulton.
Brown was identified a summer camp at ICC campus. She built on that showing with a double-figure scoring season that saw her lead the Lady Yellow Jackets in several offensive categories.
“She is a silent player and plays hard,” said ICC assistant coach Robin Porter, a former standout at Mississippi State University. “She can be aggressive when she wants, but you just have to jump on her. When she comes up here, we can develop her, help her play even harder and the way we’d love her to play.”
Brown attended the camp at ICC with former Starkville High teammate Shay Bonner, who played at ICC this past season, and Starkville High girls basketball coach Kristie Williams.
“(Shay) kept me informed about the program and how things were around the campus,” Brown said. “We’re close. With her keeping in touch with me, that made me want to go more. With her leaving, it’s like me following in her footsteps.”
Williams said Brown’s basketball skills and leadership ability will help her transition to the next level.
“The intensity of how hard she is going to have to work to get better is going to be her biggest obstacle,” Williams said. “When you go to college, there’s always a group that’s exactly like you and those growing to be exactly like you. That makes that competition a little bit tougher.”
ICC won the MACJC North Division title and the State Championship before finishing second in the Region 23 tournament this past season.
“We’re trying to build off that, and we feel Brittany will be a great asset to the program for next year and hopefully we can repeat,” Porter said. “She has that mentality of wanting to win.”
As for the Lady Yellow Jackets, Williams will have to find a new leading scorer, but she will gladly accept that challenge. She said she is anxious to see how Brown continues to develop into a leader.
“This past year as a senior, she’s been one of our leaders as far as scoring, defense, and helping our younger players adjust to the varsity level,” Williams said. “(Two seasons ago), we had seniors and she didn’t want to step on any toes, but I told her job was to do her very best no matter what. She’s finally understood what all of that means.”
Brown said ICC coach Nanci Gray and the success the Lady Indians have had in recent years made it easy for her to know Fulton was the right place for her.
“Coach Porter told me playing time is based on how I make it,” Brown said. “If I come in and go through the motions, I wouldn’t get as much, but if I come in and bust my butt and basically play a lot of defense, the team will do great.”
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