Mother and Daughter

Sometimes I just have brainstorms, it may take me a while but they actually come. I met Jackie and Kiki Devane a few years ago when they first moved to Texas. Jackie was coaching a club team her daughter was playing on and the buzz on mom was she coached and played D-1 basketball. In a brief conversation, mom mentioned her daughter had just decided to start playing basketball and she was going to have her ready to play at the next level.

Let’s see, fast forward five years later and I am amazed at how much this kid has improved. Hard work, determination and comprehension have certainly paid off. When I say hard work, Kiki is one of the hardest working players on the court, all lof the time and if I could use one word to describe her, it would be relentless. Her improved skills and work ethic have elevated her to become one of the top posts in the area for the Class of 2011.

Kiki started out on varsity at Cy Woods as a freshman where she was the sixth man and earned Academic All District, yes she is an outstanding student. She is a member of the National Honor Society. She has made either the honor roll or distinguished honor roll every semester of high school. To top that off, she is in Cy Ranch Honors program and was a Merit Scholar finalist.

After the district was realigned because of a new school, Cy Ranch, which had no varsity team the first year, she played junior varsity where she was named captain and has continued to be captain for three years.

Last year as a junior, she almost led her team to the playoffs, I believe they fell one game short, yet she was First Team All-District, this is the same district Cheney Ogwumike and Cassie Peoples from Cy Fair played in, the district is full of players.

In watching how hard Kiki works, I just had to do some checking on mom and after a little research, I truly get it. Jackie was Delaware State’s leading rebounder and second leading scorer. She was ranked in the top ten nationally for three years in rebounding, she was a 1982 All-American nominee, a National Dean’s List recipient and was inducted into the Delaware State University Athletics Hall of Fame in1997.

She also was a head basketball coach on the collegiate level for 15 years at Cheyney University, her alma mater Deleware State and Monmouth University.

Kiki has brains and is a “BEAST” on the court so I guess she gets it from her mother.