Fleming makes collegiate choice

South Terrebonne senior guard Chloe Fleming is about to embark on a senior season — one which she hopes is filled with memorable victories and a deep postseason run.

But before the grind begins, she made one of the biggest decisions of her life, securing her athletic future for the next several seasons with a commitment to Southern.

The athletic combo guard made her pick last week, committing to the Lady Jaguars after also fielding serious interest from LSU-Alexandria and Prairie View A&M, among other programs.

Fleming said she loves Southern’s program, touting a bond with the team’s coaches and players. But the timing of her decision was also based on a desire to focus on the senior season ahead — one which the Lady Gators hope will be a special ride.

“It was a family atmosphere,” Fleming said when asked what attracted her to Southern over the other schools. “When I stepped on the campus, it just felt like home. I felt a great vibe.”

Fleming is one heck of a basketball player.

For the past couple seasons, she’s been a lead guard on a Lady Gators team that’s completely changed its culture under coach Nick Cenac.

Long a non-factor in the district standings, South Terrebonne has routinely contended with or has beaten the top teams in the area, earning playoff berths in the past two seasons.

Fleming was a huge piece of that puzzle, giving explosiveness to the Lady Gators’ offense — the type of player who can impact the game either directly by scoring 20-plus points or indirectly by attracting special defenses, which creates opportunities for other teammates to shine.

“She’s a special player and just a special kid,” Cenac said during last season. “She’s one of those players that is just fun to coach. She works hard and she commits herself to what we’re doing and she just does things the right way — the way that we want things to be done in our program. The sky is the limit for her, that’s for sure.”

But Fleming said she is far from a finished product and she wants her final season in Bourg to be her best one yet.

She said she worked tirelessly this offseason to become a more complete player, adding that she wants to continue to get better over the next 6 months or so before heading off to the next level.

Fleming said the Southern coaches liked her speed and ability to protect the basketball. They project her as a point guard at the next level. She said a lot of her points of emphasis in the offseason have been on her ability to score — especially when being closely defended.

“I’m working hard on finishing with contact with my right hand and improving my 3-point and pull-up jump shot,” Fleming said. “All that, and I’m working to gain muscle, as well.”

But no matter how far the Lady Gators go this season, nor what Fleming’s future on the court may hold, there is no doubt that this young lady is the total package — a true embodiment of the word student-athlete.

Off the floor, Fleming is a straight-A student — one of the top academic performers in the entire senior class at South Terrebonne.

She said her goals for the season are simple and they involve both basketball and also her books.

She wants to be the best she can be at both, while having fun and going out with a bang — as big an impact as she can have on the area.

“My goals for my senior year are to still maintain a 4.0 average while playing basketball, to graduate with honors and to get better every day as a player and win district MVP,” she said.

One can’t ask for much more than that.

BRUCE FLEXES HER MUSCLES IN COLLEGIATE DEBUT

While Fleming made her collegiate commitment, one of the area’s top women’s basketball players from the past several seasons made a clear statement on Saturday, showing that she can shine as bright in college as she did at South Lafourche.

Former Lady Tarpon Traya Bruce exploded in her first game with the University of New Orleans, playing a team-high 36 minutes, scoring 26 points, while also recording 4 assists and 3 steals.

Bruce was incredibly efficient in the game, shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 from behind the 3-point line. She also got to the foul line at ease, making 9-of-10 free throws in the Lady Privateers’ 84-64 win over West Alabama.

Coach Keeshawn Davenport said Bruce’s early-career success is no surprise to the Lady Privateers players or staff. They project Bruce as one of their top weapons in the upcoming season.

Traya is just a fundamentally sound player and she works extremely hard,” Davenport said. “I can play her at the one, two or three. She did not look like a freshman playing her first game. She looked smooth as butter.”

Chloe Fleming

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