Lewis a good fit for KFHS
Published 9:16 pm Saturday, January 17, 2015
Finding a way to fit into a new high school basketball team as a senior can be a daunting task, but Imani Lewis has made it happen at King’s Fork High School.
The Granby High School transfer has taken the valuable role of point guard from now-graduated Brittany Alston and has become crucial to the Lady Bulldogs’ success this season, leading to her becoming the Duke Automotive-Suffolk News-Herald Player of the Week.
On Jan. 6, she recorded a game-high 22 points to go with seven assists in a 67-58 win against host Hickory High School. Two days later, she helped make possible a 70-35 blowout of visiting Western Branch High School by contributing 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Lewis said she felt pretty good about those performances, as did coach Maurice Fofana.
“She’s played well,” he said. “We’ve kind of made a transition for her to move to the point, so she’s adapted and played it really well. I think she’s happy with playing the point.”
“She sees the floor very well,” he said, and that especially important for a point guard.
But transitioning to a new team as a senior has not been easy.
“It’s pretty different,” she said. “When you play basketball, you need team chemistry.”
It took some time to fit with her teammates on the court, but, she said, “I’m really comfortable with them now, so everything is pretty good.”
It helps that she brings some important characteristics to the team.
“I bring intensity,” she said. “I kind of keep everything together.”
Fofana appreciates the leadership and basketball knowledge Lewis provides as one of only two seniors on the roster.
“It helps us out so much with having such a young team,” he said.
And her 5-foot-9-inch frame has been important at the point guard position, too.
Lewis started playing basketball in seventh grade. She used to play soccer, but her father, Arthur Lewis, got her into basketball, and her first time on the court came in a military recreational league.
As part of a military family, Lewis is well-traveled, even though she is only 17.
“I’ve been to South Korea, and I’ve been all over the U.S,” she said, including Maryland, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Idaho and Virginia.
After playing hoops recreationally, she played for Northside Middle School in Norfolk and also played three years on the varsity team at Granby.
Basketball has the edge as her favorite sport because of the competition, the crowd — and “just seeing the ball go through the hoop kind of gives me a good feeling.”
She hopes to continue experiencing that good feeling in college.
“She has potential to play at the next level, and I’m sure she’s going to play at the next level,” Fofana said.
To prepare herself, Lewis said, she needs to get faster, work on her right hand dribbling, work harder overall and learn to be a little bit more coachable.
Her parents provide her with a reliable source of motivation to give her all on the court each game, she said.
“They come to every single one of my games, so just knowing that they’re in the stands supporting me just kind of gives me a push,” Lewis said.