By Mike London
Salisbury Post
Meredith’s basketball team has a great nickname ó the Avenging Angels ó and small forward Brittany Cornelius has earned a few as well.
Teammates call the East Rowan graduate “Arnold Schwarzenegger” because she’s taken a demanding approach to leading offseason workouts. She’s super-serious about Meredith improving on its 6-18 record.
Others call Cornelius “The Nerd” because her trusty book bag made every road trip in 2008. The Avenging Angels made some long ones in the USA South Athletic Conference, so she turned her seat on the bus into a private library.
“The Nerd” will be an all-star accountant someday, but she’s got two more years of basketball first.
Cornelius, 5-foot-9, averaged 17.5 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds and was second on the team in steals and assists this season.
“I’ve worked hard on my shooting and I’ve gotten better on 3s,” Cornelius said. “I crash the boards harder. A lot of my points come off rebounds ó putbacks or getting the defensive board and going coast-to-coast.”Cornelius shot 44 percent from the field, 34 percent on 3s and 70 percent from the foul line, while guarding the opposition’s biggest threat.
“Point guards to power forwards,” Cornelius said. “The only time I didn’t was if it was a big center.”
She got into one trash-talking tussle last season, but no on Meredith’s schedule is going to scare her. In high school, she competed against Division I guards such as S.C. State’s Sophilia Hipps (North Rowan) and N.C. State’s Shayla Fields (Salisbury).
The Avenging Angels cheered for their Wolfpack neighbors during their “Think Pink” game against Boston College. Cornelius watched Fields score 24.
“Shayla played great,” Cornelius said. “That gave me a chance to brag to my teammates, ‘Hey, I guarded that girl in high school.’ “Cornelius ranked sixth in the league in scoring and eighth in rebounding, but she was only Honorable Mention on the All-USA South team. Probably because she was a sophomore on a young team that was new to the league.
But honors have been frequent. She earned spots on the ESPN All-District 3 academic team and the North Carolina Sports Information Directors College Division All-State team.
“Brittany has had a fantastic first two years and is a great all-round kid,” Meredith coach David Zinn said. “There’s always room to improve, but she’s meeting expectations we had for her on the court. As a person and student, I’d say she’s exceeded every expectation.”
Cornelius’ stats led to her selection for an all-star team that will tour Rome and play basketball in Italy for two weeks. The trip is set for late May, and she’ll make her first plane flight.
“I’m scared to death, but my mom (Linda) is going and my brother (Adam) is going too,” Cornelius said. “I’d considered studying abroad at some point, but I was worried about staying in shape. Then this opportunity came along. The timing was good.”
Meredith, a Division III school in Raleigh, doesn’t often have the opportunity to attract players as talented as Cornelius. She lettered in six sports at East, ranks among the school’s all-time top 10 in scoring and averaged 15.7 points as a senior.
She had offers, but once she was accepted at UNC, the choice came down to Chapel Hill or Meredith.
UNC was her dream, and she could have been content painting herself blue and cheering wildly for the Tar Heels from a seat in the Smith Center and destroying classmates in intramurals.
Meredith offered a chance to tackle an elite honors program and to continue playing basketball games that mattered.
Cornelius loves the Tar Heels and still screams at the television when they’re on, but Meredith won out.
She’s experienced weary legs and tedious bus rides, but the academic challenge has been perfect. She’s never regretted her decision for a minute.
Basketball can cross over to the classroom. She’s enrolled in a class called “Memory and Memoir” and is basing her required memoir on the broken wrist she suffered at a camp prior to her junior year at East.
That setback could’ve ended her career. Instead, it made her tougher, more focused ó and better.
Cornelius craves an ‘A’ on her memoir. She despises B’s like missed layups. She’s received only two so far.
“No more B’s,” she said. “At least, that’s the goal.”
Basketball has been harder to ace. Her freshman year, Meredith played an independent schedule, with games spaced out. Moving to USA South for the 2007-08 season, Meredith played more often ó sometimes back-to-back ó logged more mileage and tackled stiffer competition.
USA South schools such as Methodist, Greensboro and Ferrum can’t offer athletic scholarships, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t serious about putting good teams on the floor.”All the teams in our league have two or three good players, but the best teams have another three or four who are steady,” Cornelius said. “Christopher Newport had one girl making 3s from everywhere, and I’m wondering what is she doing here in Division III?”
Opposing coaches usually wonder the same thing about Cornelius.
“It makes you feel good going through the handshake line when they tell you you’re a strong player,” she said. “That happens sometimes.”Cornelius led Meredith in scoring 13 times, while Nicole Hall, a senior point guard from Wakefield, led in the other 11 games.
A highlight for Cornelius was sparking a victory at Shenandoah in January. That was Meredith’s first win in its new conference.
But the Avenging Angels lost 14 of their last 15. Given Cornelius’ competitive fire, that was difficult to handle emotionally.
“Our weakness was defense and size inside,” she said. “I hate to lose. I’d come out of that locker room mad every time. Fortunately, my parents were always there to comfort me.”
Cornelius’ parents achieved perfect attendance, but they nearly passed on her last game at Mary Baldwin in Staunton, Va.
“It was a six-hour trip for us on the bus, but my parents still came,” Cornelius said. “I’m glad they did.”
Meredith lost 88-72, so Cornelius was fuming. A stat sheet that showed a career-high 34 points and nine rebounds lifted her spirits.
It was a fine way to end her season. More 30-point games ó and more A’s ó are in her future.
“I really couldn’t be happier,” Cornelius said. “There are so many academic benefits at Meredith, and I still get to play basketball.”

Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com.