Girls' Basketball - Colonels’ Brooks To Play For NAIA Team

Posted: May 28, 2016

By ROB NIEDZWIECKI

The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — College recruiting trips are usually pretty standard — high school athlete tours campus, athlete talks with the coaches, athlete talks with the college’s current players.

Obviously, conversations need to take place in order to find out if an athlete is a good fit for the team and the university.

But St. Thomas University (Fla.) women’s basketball head coach Albrey Grimsley likes her prospective players to save some of their breath for the physical side of what it means to play for St. Thomas, and she clearly likes what James Wood senior point guard Keiana Brooks will bring to the table in that regard.

Brooks signed a National Letter of Intent to play for St. Thomas — an NAIA school located in Miami Gardens — during a ceremony at James Wood on Friday that was attended by family, friends, coaches and teammates. Brooks will receive academic and athletic scholarships that will cover all of her costs except for housing.

Brooks — who has several family members in the Miami Gardens area — said her trip the university in April wasn’t easy by any means. She did a conditioning workout with the team at 7 a.m., then did a one-on-one workout with Grimsley later in the day.

But Brooks — a second team All-4A West Region selection this year — is never going to complain about being challenged.

"It was rough," said Brooks about working out with Grimsley, who is just seven years removed from her senior year at St. Thomas, when she helped the team to its first NAIA national tournament berth in school history. "She’s really tough. I worked out with her in the hot sun, and she’s not really into water breaks.

"Even though it was really challenging, I could feel how it was helping me. [Grimsley] can definitely make me a better player."

The 5-foot-5 Brooks is already pretty good of course. She ranked second in the area in points (19.1) and assists (6.9), ranked first in steals (4.6) and ranked eighth in rebounds (6.4) this year. Brooks surpassed 1,000 career points and holds the Colonels’ career assist mark.

Brooks said St. Thomas (14-10, 13-3 Sun Conference last year) first contacted her in late February. Brooks said her cousin Carmen Gomez, who lives in Florida and runs a business called The Athlete’s Meals that provides meals to colleges, had dealt with Grimsley through her business, and mentioned Brooks to her. Brooks then made her trip in April, and St. Thomas offered her a spot on the team in early May.

Brooks said she has several other family members living in Florida as well, which is part of a long list of reasons why St. Thomas is so appealing to her.

Miami is only 16 miles from Miami Gardens, and Brooks, who plans on majoring in communications, thinks that could be a good place for her to make connections.

"I like the city of Miami," said Brooks, who also considered going to West Virginia Wesleyan and Wingate. "West Virginia Wesleyan is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and I really wanted to go somewhere that was more like a city. There can be a lot of internship opportunities in Miami."

Brooks said she’s also looking forward to spending time with her new teammates, whom she desribed as "very encouraging" on her recruiting trip.

"They were really helpful," Brooks said. "And it’s cool that there’s a lot of diversity on the team. There’s a girl from Thailand, and one from Spain."

James Wood girls’ basketball coach Krista Crites said things definitely won’t be the same without Brooks in the future.

"To miss her is an understatement," she said. "Not just as a basketball player, but as a person. She’s a very respectful, polite team player, and humble. She relishes in her teammates’ success and not so much her own. You never heard her once say anything about the things she’s done.

"She deserves to have something like this that she can take as her own, and enjoy it and go with it."

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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