Super Centex Girls' Basketball Team: Fairfield rode senior to regional final

 

Choicetta McMillian saved the best of her Fairfield career for the encore.

And it was an awfully good show.

Led by McMillian, who scored 25.1 points per game as a senior, Fairfield advanced to the 3A Region III tournament.

But the Lady Eagles struggled to shift into overdrive early in the semifinal game against Hardin-Jefferson.

That’s when McMillian took over.

“It ranks pretty high for me,” McMillian said. “We did kind of started off slow that game. I told myself, ‘This could be it and you don’t want it to end. You’ve got to just suck it up and just go.’ ’’

The Fairfield senior started filling up the basket, scoring all 15 of the Lady Eagles points in the third quarter. By the end, she’d totalled 36 points in the Lady Eagles’ 53-46 win over Hardin-Jefferson.

The next night, McMillian scored 31 as Fairfield came three points away from earning a berth in the state tournament.

Though Navasota earned the trip to Austin, McMillian claimed regional tournament MVP honors after scoring 67 points in the two games.

“Choicetta kind of put the team on her back,” Fairfield coach Tommy Fadal said. “With a player like that, you kind of give them the green light and let her go.”

McMillian’s effort at the regional tournament, combined with an overall outstanding season, separated her as the 2008 Super Centex Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

For the Fairfield guard, her senior season was the culmination of seven years of playing against high school competition.

As a sixth-grader, McMillian began playing AAU basketball under former Baylor Lady Bear Stasha Richards.

Richards became a mentor for the young McMillian.

“Stasha really took her under her wing because she was the youngest,” said Carmela McMillian, Choicetta’s mom. “Stasha told her, ‘This is how college ball is, be prepared.’ ”

From Richards and her father, Billie McMillian, Choicetta learned not to be intimidated by older or bigger players.

That helped her make the transition from junior high basketball to the varsity as a freshman.

Then, as a junior, McMillian began to take the reins as a leader for the Lady Eagles.

“My role changed a lot when I became a junior and a senior,” McMillian said. “I had to put everybody on my back and take them. It made me stronger, though, because I had people looking up to me for the first time.”

Despite the heartbreaking loss to Navasota in the regional final, McMillian said she didn’t cry. She said it was too good of a season not to look back on with pride.

However, her fondest memories don’t necessarily have anything to do with victories on the scoreboard.

“My highlight was just being on the bus with my teammates on the way home from the game,” McMillian said. “We always had fun even if we lost. We still would just keep our heads up, shake it off and be ready for the next game.”

Those road trips will look much different for McMillian beginning next season. She’s signed to play college basketball at Hampton University in Virginia.

“One of my requirements was to get out of Texas,” McMillian said. “I wanted to be away from home, try something new and be on my own for a little bit.”

McMillian edged out a deserving field of Player of the Year candidates, including a pair of dominating post players in Midway’s Cokie Reed and Texas Christian Academy’s Brittany Thompson.

Amateur Athletic Union Team Member

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