GIRLS PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Pelham’s Briunna Freeman strived to be best

It will be hard to imagine Pelham High School girls basketball without standout Briunna Freeman.

The senior has a long list of achievements that include all-state honors, making the Albany Herald Super 6 preseason team twice, leading her team to the state quarterfinals three times and helping the Lady Hornets to the semifinals this past season.

You can add another accomplishment to her resume — Albany Herald Player of the Year.

Freeman was a huge reason for the Lady Hornets’ success. Nowhere was that obvious more than in her final high school game against Holy Innocents. She scored 28 points despite being saddled with foul trouble and nearly helped Pelham rally to a victory.

“I am honored to be named Player of the Year,” said Freeman, who signed with Arkansas. “This year has been a great year for me with the help from my amazing teammates and coaches. Having an awesome record, making it to the final four, and being named Player of The Year are truly blessings that I am thankful for, and I couldn’t have done it alone.”

The Herald Super 6er averaged 22 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two blocks per game to lead Pelham to a 29-2 record.

Freeman not only helped her team make a deep postseason run, she helped make her teammates better too.

“As a freshman, it was a privilege to have the opportunity to play with Briunna her senior year,” guard Mahogany Randall said. “Briunna would always encourage me to do my best, go hard, stay focused and don’t let anybody get in my head. Every time we were on the floor with our other teammates, it was like we were unbeatable and couldn’t be stopped. Even though we didn’t always get along and see eye-to-eye on some things, I wouldn’t have traded her for anything in the world.”

Deciding on where to attend college was a tough one for the senior. But there was something about Arkansas coach Jimmy Dykes that intrigued her and she signed with the Razorbacks last November.

Dykes was a former ESPN college basketball analyst before getting back into coaching last year.

“You know, I look more at the academics than I look at the athletic part of a school,” Freeman said. “You can easily get hurt or something could happen, but you can always fall back on the mindset things as far as majoring in something that you want to be.

“As far as coaching is concerned, the coach is very intense and I’m used to that because coach Antonia Tookes is intense.”

While at Arkansas, Freeman will be majoring in Sociology. After graduation, Freeman would like to become a social worker. However, she doesn’t want her basketball career to end after college, which was another factor as to why she chose to play for the Razorbacks.

“I also want to play overseas,” Freeman said. “I did some research and looked into the history, and every year, a girl goes overseas from that school.”

Sophomore guard Destiny Thomas has known Freeman for most of her life.

“Playing with Briunna was definitely an honor,” Thomas said. “She always pushes me to do my best. She’s tough on me and I’m tough on her. I’ve been playing with her since we were in middle school. We’ve accomplished so much over the years. She taught me a lot. I know that she’s going to do big things in the future. I’m more than proud of Briunna.”

Tookes was also proud of Freeman’s achievements.

“I am so proud of Briunna … I feel the award is well-deserving,” Tookes said. “Briunna has helped Pelham High basketball in so many ways. She is an extraordinary athlete that plays better when the stakes are higher. She makes everyone around her better, she gets her work and she brings her ‘A’ game every night and she’s been that type of student-athlete for four years.

“She has meant so much to our program over the years and she leaves as the school’s leading scorer with over 2,000 points and over 1,000 rebounds in her career.”

Tookes had a final message for her star pupil.

“Always put God first,” she said. “Set your goals at the next level. Continue to work on your game and the sky’s the limit. I love you and I’m very proud you are a Pelham Lady Hornet.”

Freeman was named to the GACA All-Star team and participated in the All-Star game in Savannah. In that game, Freeman scored 13 points and pulled down four rebounds. She has won Region 1-AA Player of The Year for the past three years.

Her best game this season came against Early County when she had a double-double (36 points and 18 rebounds) and tallied six assists and five blocks. Her career best came against Randolph-Clay her freshman year when she scored 38 points against the Lady Red Devils.

“I would like to thank every fan, the coaching staff, and most of all, my teammates for giving me pushes and encouragement to be all that I can be,” Freeman said.

She credits a former Mitchell County star for inspiring her to try basketball.

“I saw Tiana Burley, former player from Mitchell County,” Freeman said. “She was pretty much positive influence on my life on the court. I told my mom about my dreams with basketball, and somehow it got to my Uncle Jordan and my step brother Darius. My older sister Brittany, who was on Pelham High’s basketball team, would gather my uncle and my brother to play HORSE … I was always losing.”

Losing fueled the competitive fire and desire in Freeman to excel.

“My mom tried to have me on an AAU team, but the coach, Lamar Harris, turned me down,” Freeman said. “After a hard year of work during my sixth-grade year, he changed his mind. Coach Harris trained me, criticized me positively, and developed me as a player.”

Freeman realizes that all of her accomplishments and accolades are due to her faith.

“Jesus gets all the praise for every blessing I’ve received,” she said.