Colonels women struggle at SLC’s
March 20, 2015Louisiana has recruiting problem
March 25, 2015
One down, one to go.
That’s the phrase that will continually be going through Houma native and University of New Orleans guard Randi Brown’s mind as she works in the gym this summer to perfect her craft.
A Central Catholic High School state champion and standout, Brown took women’s college basketball by storm this past season for the Lady Privateers, who are currently reconstructing their program from the ground up.
In her true freshman season, Brown averaged 12.7 points per game for the Lady Privateers – enough to make herself the 2014-15 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year.
The honor is a bit of a shock to most because Brown started the season playing light minutes off the bench for UNO.
But to the young local, it’s all part of the plan. Brown said winning the honor was her goal all along. In fact, she said she has an even loftier goal for next season – to put in the work and emerge even better next fall so she can be the Southland Conference’s 2015-16 Player of the Year.
One down, one to go.
“This means a lot to me,” Brown said. “I give all thanks to God. Sometimes it’s unreal because this is something I told my mom and my coaches that I wanted to accomplish, and to accomplish it means so much to me. I know it not only does a lot for me, but it also does and means a lot for my school, my team and my coaches, as well. … My goal now is to take the next step, which is Player of the Year and winning the conference tournament.”
There’s no way Brown would have said that last sentence about being Player of the Year if she were interviewed in December or January.
That’s because Brown’s earliest weeks of her freshman season weren’t always pleasant ones – stretches of games the Houma native said tested her mental toughness and patience.
Adversity isn’t something Brown often had to deal with in high school at Central Catholic. A three-time All-District and two-time All-State selection, Brown dominated that level of competition with ease. Central Catholic was a force all throughout Brown’s time at the prep level. In her final game, the Lady Eagles final broke the ice and won the Class 1A State Championship – an honor that had always narrowly eluded the team in previous season.
Brown was MVP of that game, but opted to share the trophy presentation with her partner in crime – fellow standout guard and now Alabama freshman Meo Knight.
But in her earliest days at UNO, that magic wasn’t quite there. Brown said she struggled initially with the pace and tempo at the college level – an adjustment that affected her play on the floor.
Brown spent the majority of the early season playing 15-20 minutes per game – numbers that are good for the average freshman, but weren’t satisfying to Brown, who wanted more.
“It actually took me a little longer than I thought it would to get used to this level of competition,” she said. “I was nervous about playing and playing with new people, and I also knew that playing time wasn’t guaranteed so the way I played at the beginning of the season was a little more rushed than in high school. … I became a little discouraged when I wasn’t playing well and when I got less playing time.
“So I prayed about it and got in the gym and my season turned around instantly.”
After struggling through November, December and January, Brown finished the season with a bang and paved her path for dominance next season. She ended the 2014-15 season arguably playing better than any other guard in America.
After scoring in double figures just three times in the Lady Privateers’ first 18 games, Brown did it with ease in all nine of UNO’s final games – never scoring fewer than 13 points in any of the games.
Brown averaged 23 points per game in the final month of the season, lifting her season-wide average from 7.6 points per game to 12.7 in that stretch.
She scored 30 points twice – both times against Southeastern. The offense was fluid and efficient. She was a combined 22-of-34 from the field in those games.
She also dropped 27 twice – once against Abilene Christian and the other against Nicholls. The victory against the Colonels was one of the highlights of the season for the Lady Privateers, who won six Southland Conference games on the year.
For her second-half efforts, the coaches in the Southland Conference rewarded Brown as the league’s top freshman once the season game to a close.
She scored 20 or more point in six-straight games to close the year, which made the decision a little easier. Brown was also a two-time Southland Conference Player of the Week.
“This is an amazing honor for that young lady who has worked so hard in the classroom and on the court,” UNO coach Keeshawn Davenport said. “Her hard work has paid off. All that extra work she put in showed on the court and she couldn’t be more deserving of this award.”
But even with all of the praise in her back pocket and the trophies in her case, Brown wants more. Both for herself and her team.
She said she will be busy in the gym doing even more work so that she can build on her momentum of the past year.
“I will be working on my ball handling as well as seeing the floor and having better shot selections,” Brown said. “I just want to continue to become a better all-around player and leader for next season.”
The ultimate goal is Player of the Year – something that seems to be a certainty if Brown keeps scoring 20 and 30 points per game with ease.
But at the core, Brown’s vision runs deeper. She wants to take the Lady Privateers to the NCAA Tournament.
She believes it can be done.
After all, the Lady Privateers won six Southland games in 2014-15 after going 0-18 just one year before.
With much of UNO’s talent returning, who knows what might unfold.
The Lady Privateers’ season ended with a bang. They won four-straight games and topped Northwestern State on the road – a team that eventually became Southland Champions.
“I accomplished Freshman of the Year, but my season wasn’t all the way complete because we didn’t make it to the tournament. We ended the season on an awesome note by beating the two-time conference champions. That means that there’s hope and much more in store for us as a team next season.”
Houma native and UNO standout freshman Randi Brown makes a move to the bucket during a game this past season. After a slow start to the 2014-15 season, Brown finished with a bang, establishing herself as one of the Lady Privateers’ top players. Brown went on a scoring run at the end of the season that established herself as the Southland Conference’s Freshman of the Year.
