Posted by Jami Frankenberry on 2/28/2008, 11:28 pm, in reply to "Eastern Region basketball tournament semifinals set "
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Shakiyla Finney’s penchant for playing tough defense has helped her find playing time since her freshman basketball season at Wilson High School.
Defense comes easy for a girl who spent years trying to check her four brothers — including star athlete Ben — at the family’s driveway hoop.
“Whenever you called a foul,” Shakiyla said recently, “they didn’t ever give it to you.”
Finney credits those front-yard sibling showdowns — even mom Desiree, a former standout athlete at Wilson, got involved — with preparing her for the rigors of matching up against the Eastern District’s top guards. Now a 5-foot-11 junior point guard, Finney helped Wilson share the district regular-season title this season and win the district tournament championship.
The Presidents (23-4) play Heritage at 6 p.m. today at Churchland in an Eastern Region semifinal. Princess Anne (26-0) meets Lake Taylor (23-3) at 6 p.m. Friday in the other semifinal.
One of Finney’s brothers, Dorian Smith, plays for Norcom and follows her when the Greyhounds face Bethel at 8 tonight in a boys semifinal.
Shakiyla (pronounced Sha-Key-La) Finney, an honor roll student, lives in the Norcom High attendance zone but has gone to Wilson since her freshman year through its International Studies magnet program.
Since her arrival, Finney has been one of the Presidents’ top defenders. This season Finney, at 10.5 points per game, is the Presidents’ second-leading scorer behind JoNiquia Guilford.
“I feel like I’m trusting in myself,” Finney said. “I’m just playing instead of thinking too much. Before I was just thinking too much, scared to make mistakes.”
Wilson coach Roger Smith always could count on Finney for fine play on defense. Now, she’s becoming just as dependable with the ball in her hands.
“She doesn’t mind working, conditioning,” Smith said. “In AAU, summer league, fall league, she’s always there. Her game has really developed since she was a freshman.”
Her brother Ben has noticed.
An All-Tidewater pick in basketball and football as a senior at Norcom, he attended Hargrave Military Academy for a year. Ben returned to South Hampton Roads on a basketball scholarship to Old Dominion and was awestruck at watching the girl he and his three brothers once pushed around in pickup games.
Shakiyla’s other two brothers, Dashawn and Rashawn, play football at Norcom.
“I couldn’t believe how good she had gotten,” said Ben, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound ODU freshman. “But she works hard, and she always played hard. That’s one of the things I’ve always admired about her game. She never wanted to give up.”
Shakiyla, who has a scholarship offer from Old Dominion, and Ben are close and talk or text-message before every game. She said he often reminds her to “play hard, let the game come to you.”
That’s easier when your brothers aren’t the ones standing in front of the basket.
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