It’s playoff season in Texas, and the Rice High School girl’s basketball team in Navarro County hopes it ends in a state championship.
For one of the Lady Bulldogs, it’s already the best season she’s ever had.
“I don’t really brag about myself, but I’m very competitive and just love to play the game,” said a humble Saniya Burks, 16.
The junior on the varsity team is having the best season of her life!
“Gotta get the ball to the goal,” she said. “I don’t really think, I act.”
Burks leads the state in scoring and is top 10 in the nation with an average 32 points a game.
She had a career-high 46 points the other night!
“I came out nervous but the nerves went away right at the ball tip. I was locked in the whole game,” she said. “Got my team involved. My team helped me reach my 46th career point.”
And it doesn’t end there.
The teenager has scored more than 1,000 points this season and more than 2,500 in her high school career, so far.
“She left out a lot actually,” smiled Antonio Burks, her proud dad, and coach.
“She’s back-to-back district MVP,” he said. “She’s a candidate for the Texas Gatorade player of the year. That’s big. Most importantly she has high academics, a straight-A student. She’s been all academic ever since she started freshman year. So, she’s got a lot of accolades.”
And, she’s done it with her dad on the sidelines.
“It’s just like having any other coach, but 10 times harder. He’s very tough on me,” she said. “But he’s doing what’s best for me and he’s a very great coach, very competitive and smart, and help my team do what they need to do at the end of the day.”
“I am, I am because I know you know those expectations are there. I’ve been training her since she was like four years old,” Antonio Burks said.
“[Saniya’s parents] both played college ball at Stephen F. Austin,” Burks said, adding that his wife is actually tougher on Saniya than he is. “She was with me when I played pro ball overseas and when I played semi-pro in Vermont. She’s been around the game since an infant, so it’s kind of in her DNA.”
“Her work ethic, her speed, her ability to change speeds and gears on the court, it’s just fun to watch. So yeah, as long as she stays focused and she makes the main thing, the main thing she can go as far as she wants,” he said.
Colleges are already taking notice and Saniya hopes to get to the pros but first the playoffs. She and the Lady Bulldogs face the Teague Lions in the second-round matchup on Friday night.
“If we handle our business, we will make it to round five,” she said.
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