Chrishana Wilson gains recognition for her great season
By: DJ McGuire
Sports Editor
The team had a great year overall. They finished with a 26-9 record and a fifth place finish at the national tournament, which was the highest finish in program history. This speaks to the skill of the team, as well as the skill of the players.
Chrishana Wilson, No. 21 freshman forward, was one of those players for her team. Wilson received several accolades for her season. Wilson was named a member of the first team of the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference, first team All Region 16, and was named to the all tournament team at this year’s NJCAA Division 2 National Tournament. On top of all this Wilson was named an NJCAA first team All-American, which is a very prestigious honor. She was only one of two freshman to achieve this honor this season.
Wilson achieved these honors with her high level of play, which showed in her season averages of 17.1 points per game, 14.7 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game. Wilson also had a field goal percentage of 54.3 percent.
When asked how to break down Wilson, Head Coach Shelly Ethridge responded jokingly “How do you break down Chris?”
“She just has this raw natural athletic ability and when we recruited Chris we knew that we had something special with her,” Ethridge said.
Ethridge also knew from early on that Chris had the ability to become an All-American. “If she could gain balance and learn defense and hone her skill up on her shot, she was gonna be an All-American,” Ethridge said. “We had that figured out early in the season.”
This ability showed clearly in several games where Wilson took over on offense for her team.
“I felt like I was gonna score because [of] the way the pass was coming, or me getting a steal and bringing it down,” Wilson said. “I know nobody can run with me besides our point guard Elisha Davis.”
Wilson, as a forward, had a lot of success in her interior and low post game.
“My low post game, I really liked it because I feel like nobody can guard me,” Wilson said. “When I do my spin moves or anything like that and I feel like nobody can touch me.”
As the season progressed Wilson really grew into a leader for her team, which she didn’t expect.
“I came out and did what I was supposed to do,” Wilson said. “I’m proud of myself for doing so and bringing up my team, helping my team to do better.”
Due to her play and the nature of St. Louis Community College, being a two year school, Wilson only has one more year of basketball left for the college. However, several colleges have already extended offers for her to play basketball once she has finished her career with the Lady Archers.
Wilson also admitted her love of basketball started at an early age for her. She said her dad was her biggest inspiration for playing sports.
“When I was little he was the first person to teach me how to play basketball,” Wilson said. “He was the one who pushed me more to play basketball and be in sports, period. I was playing everything, every sport there was.”
Ethridge admitted she was very proud of her player.
“She was very coachable, wants to learn and she wants to improve. She deserves this All-American accolade,” Ethridge said.
