The shot that Livingstone junior guard Erica Deas sank against Bowie State to make the Bears CIAA Tournament champions last March was a long one. But not nearly as long a shot as it was for a player like Deas to wind up at the CIAA’s smallest school in the first place.
Deas was a high school blue-chipper in Sumter, S.C. She was recruited by D-I schools, including the University of South Carolina. Deas had game and the Gamecocks wanted her.
Back in Salisbury, Livingstone assistant coach Cory Brooks knew all about Deas. He didn’t have much choice. She was his cousin. There weren’t many days when Brooks didn’t badger head coach Andrew Mitchell about how talented his relative was and how the Bears needed to recruit her.
“Brooks was on me about Erica,” said Mitchell, “but I didn’t pay any attention. You know how it is. Everybody’s got a sister or a cousin who can play.”
Or a niece or an aunt or a next-door neighbor or a friend of a friend.
But finally, Mitchell had heard enough stories about Brooks’ cousin to give him a headache. He rode with Brooks to watch her play.
And the rest is history.
After the first quarter, Brooks had an “I told you so” look on his face and Mitchell had a stunned one on his.
“Brooks didn’t have to say no more,” laughs Mitchell. “After that night, I burned up the telephone lines to Sumter and I burned up Erica’s mailbox.”
Mitchell still figured realistically that he had little chance to attract a big fish like Deas to his small pond. But Livingstone had one thing going for it that none of the other schools in the recruiting battle had. It had Mitchell.
“He was the coach who was concerned about me as a person,” said Deas. “Everybody was talking about me going to school and sitting out a year before I could play. He talked about getting me in school and getting me on the court my first year. I’m at Livingstone because of Mitchell.”
And you still like Mitchell even when he makes you report to Trent Gym at 5:30 a.m. to work on free throws?
“That’s discipline,” laughs Deas. “We all need that. I’m happy here. I wouldn’t take any of it back. I’d do it all over again to play for Mitchell.”
Mitchell, of course, is more than happy with Deas.
“South Carolina thought she was good enough to start at the point for them,” he said. “She’s that good of an athlete. But then she came up a few points short on the SAT. We were lucky.”
Once Deas got on the court, Mitchell suddenly had a lethal inside-outside combination with the 5-foot-10 Deas firing away from long range and 6-5 Julie Tarrance taking care of the lane. And suddenly, the Bears, struggling to field a team just four years ago, were a power in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
“Erica and I complemented each other,” said Tarrance. “We fed off each other.”
And the Bears feasted on foes.
Last season, Deas scored nearly 19 points a game, shooting 46 percent from the field, 65 percent from the line and drilling an amazing 60 3-pointers. No other Bear made more than seven. And beyond her stats, Deas established herself as a player who came up big in the Bears’ toughest games.
“We all look up to Erica,” says Deshunda Brown.
“She’s so intense,” says Chloe McInnis.
“Erica’s got the desire to win,” said Mitchell. “And she has the knack for winning. You want her on your team”
Mitchell said his only problem with Deas last season was getting her psyched for lesser opponents.
“I had to find new ways to motivate her,” chuckled Mitchell. “I’d tell her someone on the other team was the best guard in the nation. That usually got her going.”
Deas proved her all-round athleticism by starring on the Bears’ volleyball team this fall. The time she, Tarrance and two other Bears spent on v-ball put the basketball team a little behind schedule, but Mitchell gave his blessing.
“I used to think volleyball was a waste of their time,” said Mitchell. “But it hasn’t been. It’s really improved their hand-to-eye coordination.”
Deas’ coordination has never come in handier than in last March’s CIAA Tournament. A big game by Deas got the Bears past Elizabeth City State in the semifinals, but in the championship game, Bowie was determined to stop Deas and focused its defense on her.
“I knew Ed Davis (Bowie’s coach) was going to try not to let Erica beat them,” said Mitchell. “But she stayed patient and her time came.”
At halftime, Deas had two points. She got 19 in the second half. The last three of those 19 came on the biggest shot in Livingstone basketball history.
The Bears trailed Bowie 62-60 when Mitchell asked for time with 11 seconds left. He called the Bears’ favorite play. Deas threw the ball inbounds to Robyn Wright, got a screen from Adrienne Webster and got the ball right back from Wright. With five seconds to go, Deas let fly and found the net from the deep corner to give the Bears their first title and break Bowie’s three-year stranglehold on the league.
“I wanted that last shot,” said Deas. “I got a great pick and a great pass and made the best shot of my life. It was emotional. I remember taking a big jump after it went in.”
“The Shot” made Deas a celebrity on the Bear campus, but she says “The Shot” and 50 cents will get her a canned drink when she’s back in her Sumter neighborhood.
“Everyone says, ‘Livingstone? Where’s that?’ ”
“I say, ‘Salisbury.’ ”
“They say, ‘Where’s that?’”
“I say, ‘Between Greensboro and Charlotte.’ But, maybe this year we’ll put Livingstone on the map.”
And if the season comes down to a single shot all over again?
“Julie can make it,” said Deas. “Or (freshman sensation) Shonda (Evans) can make it.”
But what if Mitchell asks you to make it?
“Then I’ll do it,” she says with a wink. “I won’t let the team down.”
Today's News