No Gray Area

Two seasons ago Klein Forest brought in the area’s most talented class of freshmen who quickly made their presence felt. That group helped lead the Golden Eagles to their first ever playoff season and were on the verge of a deeper run this season however if everyone’s healthy, this could be the team to beat in Region 2 next season. Of those freshmen, none came in with a resume as high as Ekiya Gray who could score on a variety of ways, going over the 50 point plateau several times in middle school. Her mother Tamara was a high school standout at Westfield, while dad Eric was an all-everything football and basketball player at Aldine, not to mention her grandfather, Thomas Henderson played in the NBA and also represented our country in the Olympics. I had a chance to speak with Ekiya about a few things

GPR-Ekiya I’ve watched you since I first heard about you scoring over 50 points in middle school and the thing that impresses me is you add something to your game every season. What do you think you need to improve on?

EG-I need to work on blocking out; I’ve been using my height as an advantage. Also my ball handling I want it to be way better than what it is now

GPR-Your parents were star basketball players in high school and your grandfather was an Olympian and NBA star for many seasons. How does that motivate you?

EG-It makes me want to strive and be successful like they were. I would LOVE to be able to play college and professional women’s basketball!

GPR-You haven’t received the credit you deserve, you are definitely one of the top players in your class but I know sometimes players get caught up in rankings. Does that bother you?

EG-I would love to get some credit and be ranked but it doesn’t really bother me because when I play, people see me play and they see how much talent I have. I don’t really like to brag but I really would love to be ranked.

You’re definitely ranked with GPR Ekiya, in fact you are one of the top players in the areas 2014 class but in the state as well. Playing at the next level won’t be a problem for this young lady and although she understands she is better than players ranked ahead of her by some services, she also understands a lot of this stuff is controlled by adults with agendas. My advice to Ekiya and any other player is to always take care of your business on the court and play to the best of your ability no matter who you go against and everything will fall into place, believe me I know this from first hand experience and I’m still smiling, talking and writing.