Goodman leads way for local hoop stars

By RANDY CAVIN
Special to The Messenger
They had one more opportunity to play as high school seniors, and it was a fun one.
Several Obion County basketball players were on the court for the last time in their high school careers in the Ridgecrest National Guard West Tennessee All-Star Basketball Game played at Liberty High School in Jackson on Saturday.
Five girls and one boy were selected to play with all but two showing up for it. Obion Central’s Brandi Goodman, Paige Hicks and Shaw Logan were selected to play. Logan was the only boy in the county picked but was unable to play due to a wrist injury.
South Fulton’s Taleeah Cross and Laken Haley were picked, as was Union City’s Tori Reedy, who did not play because of her softball commitment.
Hicks, Cross and Haley played on the National Guard All-Stars. Lady Tornadoes’ head coach Eddie Suiter was one of the coaches for the National Guard team.
Goodman played for the Brooksie’s Barn All-Stars and was coached by Westview’s Sean Stephenson.
Brookie’s won 51-36 with Goodman flexing her strength under the basket with 11 rebounds and nine points. Cross tossed in six points for the National Guard team and was pleased with her play but said the team did not play very well because they only practiced for two days.
“I think I played good,” Cross said. “I think I hustled. We just did not have good chemistry. We only practiced two days.”
Cross will play at Freed-Hardeman this fall. She will be going to her first practice as a college freshman on June 23 and then enjoy some vacation time during the summer.
Cross also showed her athleticism when she got up high late in the game to reject a shot.
Haley said it was a lot of fun to be playing with so many of West Tennessee’s best high school basketball players, but admits Brookie’s had a pretty good team.
“It was a pretty good experience,” Haley said. “I had a lot of fun. The other team had a pretty good team. I feel like we did not have that great of chemistry playing together.”
Haley has no plans to play ball in college and has not decided which college she is going to attend.
Hicks found herself matched up against some familiar players such as Westview’s Teddy Vincent, Covington’s Precious Dyson and Ashia Jones, and against Goodman, who was a teammate at OC.
“It was something new,” Hicks said. “I was not used to playing with these girls. We never had a chance to really practice.”
Hicks has future plans to play college basketball, but she is not sure where at as of now. She does know that, wherever she plays, she will major in physical therapy.
Goodman showed why the University of Memphis wanted her as she commanded a lot of attention when she had the ball. Se also showed she can score away from the basket when she hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key with 13:43 to play to give her team a 36-23 lead.
“I loved it,” Goodman said. “It was fun to get with everybody who is tops from their team and play and just have fun. I feel I did pretty good and did what my team needed me to do.”
Goodman will attend classes this summer and plans to major in forensic pathology.

Published in The Messenger 5.6.13