By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
WILLIAMSTON – A 29-1 record and a trip to the 1-A state championship basketball game tends draw a lot of attention, and so does leading that team in rebounds and blocks.
Cassie Harrell, Williamston’s starting power forward/center for the last few years, has been a part of several big games during her tenure with the Tigers, and now she will look to do the same at the next level as the senior has signed on to play hoops for Brunswick Community College next season.
Harrell, who also stars on the Tigers’ softball team, signed with Brunswick CC on Friday and said that she is thrilled to play for coach Ashley Burke and the Dolphins.
“It’s exciting, I never thought this day would come,” Harrell said. “What I’ve come to see is that hard work pays off.”
Harrell put in a lot of work this season as she posted seven points per game, while grabbing 8.5 rebounds a night. Harrell also blocked a team-high 72 shots.
Brunswick CC, which is roughly 20 minutes away from Wilmington, features a small campus that appealed to Harrell.
“Brunswick is only about seven miles from the beach and is a very small community college,” Harrell said. “I was planning on going to ECU which has a spread-out campus, but I was worried that it might be too big.”
Harrell credited Tigers’ first-year coach Hughes Barber for helping her get a chance to compete at a higher level.
“We were really thankful for having Coach Barber here and teach us some new things,” Harrell said. “We new that if we kept working hard it was going to pay off; it was just a blessing. I mean we didn’t win the (state) title game but we were still thankful that we had the opportunity to get there.”
Before she can try and lead the Dolphins to the same type of success, the early childhood major said she has a lot to work on.
“I will probably be playing the three or a four (small forward or power forward) so I need to work on my agility, my speed, shooting and boxing out,” Harrell said.
Though the two-sport star has chosen to play basketball in college, Harrell, who is an excellent softball player, said she has not ruled out a return to the diamond in the future.
“I never thought I would be hanging up the cleats because baseball was my true love,” Harrell said. “But I might go and play intermurals or something like that … You never know.”