MISENHEIMER — A valuable lesson for any high school athlete who aspires to play college ball.
Belmont Abbey women’s basketball coach Eliane Kebbe traveled to South Rowan High in 1999 to check up on Raider post player Janetta Heggins, whose AAUplay had grabbed her attention the previous summer. Kebbe already knew South coach James Greene from AAUand already knew all about Rowan County girls basketball, because she had already successfully recruited West Rowan star Ebony Pharr, the county’s Player of the Year in 1997.
Kebbe saw Heggins have a good night. But a 5-foot-7 Raider guard named Latoya Ramsey, coach Greene’s daughter, had an even better one. Now, Ramsey’s on scholarship at Belmont Abbey.
The moral of the story? You never know who’s in the stands watching you perform.
That 1998-1999 Raider team that Kebbe journeyed to see went 22-5 and had four college prospects. Jackie Wood wound up at Georgia State; Abby Cress, who could have played at any number of small colleges, decided to study optometry at the University of North Carolina; Heggins is now a starter at Western Carolina.
The No. 4 scorer was Ramsey, who averaged only 8 ppg as a senior. People who average 8 points aren’t usually recruited. But Kebbe saw Ramsey’s quickness. Then she dug a little deeper and found out that Ramsey had shot the ball a lot more earlier in her career. It was simply a case where that particular team was so talented that someone had to concentrate on moving the ball and playing defense. Coach Greene had handed his daughter that assignment.
“We asked Latoya to come down to work out with our team and we were impressed,” commented Kebbe, after Belmont Abbey was upset by Pfeiffer 80-75 on Saturday for its first CVAC loss. “Latoya’s working hard on her shot and she’s doing such a great job on defense. Her best basketball is yet to come.”
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Ramsey’s best basketball may have started coming Saturday at Merner Gym. The sophomore made her first college start with her family, including a proud papa, in the stands. And she was pretty spectacular.
Ramsey had a personal run of 6-0, as she brought the Crusaders back from a 28-18 deficit to 28-24 with three straight layups, one breakaway off her own steal and two to finish fastbreaks.
She put together another 5-0 run in the second half, scoring on a 3-pointer and a drive down the lane. The last shot she made was the biggest — a 3-pointer that gave the Abbey a 61-61 tie with 4:41 to go in the game. Unfortunately for Ramsey, the Falcons took advantage of three technical fouls and put the game away with free throws.
“Better to lose now than later on in the conference tournament,” sighed Ramsey, sounding a lot like her dad, the coach. “Now that we know we can be beat, we’ll work harder — starting Monday at practice.”
Ramsey cheerfully confirmed that injuries led to her starting debut, but said she was more than prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.
“I was ready. You have to be at this level,” she said. “Someone goes down, someone else has to step up and I did what I had to do. And now that I’m a starter, I’m going to work hard to keep my position.”
They may have a hard time getting her off the floor. She had 17 points, four rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes. She made three 3-pointers and showed no reluctance to put up shots.
Because of his coaching duties, Greene hasn’t seen her play all that much this season , but he does make it to the Saturday games that are in driving distance.
“I do know that South won their last game,” said Ramsey. “He (Greene) was excited about that and called me Friday to tell me. I’m glad South’s back on track. Now I want my team to get back on track the same way.”
And does Greene have any advice for coach Kebbe about getting his daughter’s team back on track.
“Not me,” cackled Greene. “When I watch Latoya, it’s not as a coach. I’m just her father.”
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While the game was a coming out party for Ramsey, the recent news is not good for Pharr, who is now a junior. That’s ironic, because Pharr’s presence at Belmont Abbey is one of the reasons Ramsey was so excited about going down there.
Pharr and Ramsey, one year younger, were teammates at West Rowan in 1996 and ‘97 on teams that won 42 games. But Ramsey transferred to South for her junior year to play for her dad. That was Pharr’s senior year (1998), and it was cut short by a torn ACL. Her season ended in the Christmas tourney.
But Kebbe still wanted Pharr. Eventually, Pharr had surgery to repair the knee and since then she has worked to get back to being the dominating player she once was.
But during the recent Christmas break, she tore the ligament once again while playing ball at West Rowan.
“You can’t fault her,” said Kebbe. “She was trying to stay in shape playing a pick-up game. It’s a shame.”
“It’s killing Ebony not to be able to help us out,” said Ramsey. “It breaks your heart. She was the one who was always there for me when I wasn’t playing, so now I’ve gotta be there for her. Until she gets back on the court, she’s my motivation.”
“What’s happened lately with Ebony makes you want to cry,” said her mother, Paula Waiters. “She wrecked her car and got a concussion, and then she hurt her knee the next day.”
Waiters was on hand to cheer Pharr up, as was a small cheering section behind the Abbey bench, which included her father, Honori Alexander, and an uncle, Johnny Wood.
“We bought her a calling card so she can call her friends,” said Alexander. “That’ll make her feel better. We’ve got to get Ebony healthy. Get some orange juice in that girl instead of sodas.”
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While Ramsey made her first college start, Brooke Misenheimer, was making her second start for Pfeiffer, and at times the two high school foes went head to head.
Misenheimer debuted in the Falcons’ starting lineup earlier this week at Limestone. Last night was her first starting call at Merner in front of a herd of happy Mustang fans, most of whom followed her spectacular four-year career at East Rowan, which is just a few miles up the road from Pfeiffer.
Misenheimer came through with her first collegiate 3-pointer and a driving layup early in the game. She wound up with five points in 16 minutes, although she didn’t play much in the second half.
“Coach wanted to go with experience in the second half,” Misenheimer said. “I was disappointed, but the main thing is we won. It was an awesome game for us.”
Coach Angie Morton’s Falcons play with the enthusiasm of a high school team. The girls on the bench chanted, “De-fense, de-fense,” as if they were Cameron Crazies and the entire team charged the floor in a hugging, dancing victory celebration when the Falcons pulled the game out.
“We were so happy because we played as a team and we haven’t been doing that,” said Misenheimer. “We had lost two in a row and they were undefeated, so we knew it would be tough. But we did it.”
Misenheimer explained that she had not been playing much before Christmas.
“I got a little discouraged, she admitted. “But then Coach said we needed someone to go out and lead the team and handle the ball and you know me, that’s what I’ve always done. I’m not worried if I score. I told Coach I was the one that could be the leader she wanted.”
And Morton’s giving her a chance to make good on that promise.
“Brooke can run a team,” said Morton. “She keeps her head in it and she never stops. She’s going to be a real key to our season.”
Which means that for Misenheimer, the special moments should keep right on coming — like that first successful 3. Even if you don’t care about scoring, hearing that wild P.A. man scream “Misenheimer from downtown!” for the first time is a rush.
“We get fussed at if we don’t take the open shot, so I took it,” Misenheimer laughed. “Hey, it went in. That kind of surprised me.”
It may have surprised all those Mustang fans, too. But then they got over the shock and went crazy with whoops that could be heard all the way to Rockwell.
“That’s why playing so close to home is so great,” said Misenheimer. “I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”
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