Local Sports

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Girls Basketball: Toledo Waite's Natasha Howard is 23rd honoree by AP

By RUSTY MILLER

AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS -- Ask Toledo Waite's Natasha Howard what fans will witness when she leads her team into the state semifinals this week and she doesn't hesitate.

"The best player that they will see," she said, half insulted by the question.

She already is the best player in the state. Howard is the 2010 Associated Press Ms. Basketball in Ohio, as voted by a state media panel.

The funny thing is, everyone who knows Howard says she's soft-spoken, humble and unselfish -- the last person who might trumpet how good she is. Yet when it comes to the court, she's clearly confident of her abilities.

The 6-foot-3 senior, who has signed to play next season at Florida State, backed it up with stats. She averaged 24.7 points, 11 rebounds and 2.6 assists during the regular season. Now she has guided the Lady Indians (23-2) to the school's first visit to the girls state tournament. They will play in the Division I semifinals against Kettering Fairmont on Friday night at Ohio State's Value City Arena.

Her coach, Manny May, said she can play anywhere from point guard to post and gets winded when he lists the ways she can win a game.

"She's unselfish. She does everything that's required of a basketball player. Her game speaks for itself," he said. "She reminds me of Magic Johnson. She can play, can handle the ball, can score, and can pass it off for a layup. Plus she's very coachable."

The first time he saw her play, he remembers she was just another beanpole kid who could dominate against other 7th graders simply because she was taller. But he also noticed she had some athletic ability and was smooth for a kid her age. Within a year, he invited her to come along with an AAU team he coached that was playing in Atlanta. It was an eye-opener for her.

"The other kids were all older than she was, and they were putting it on her," May recalled. "They'd say, 'You've got no meat on your bones! You're good, but you've got to get bigger and stronger and better.'"

She apparently took their advice to heart. Howard, raised by a single mother along with an older sister and a younger brother and sister, just played basketball because she was good at it the first couple of years.

"I didn't like it at all," she said of the sport. "But then I got into junior high and I started living the game."

Howard became committed and gradually became a dominant player.

As good as she is on offense, with silky moves around the rim, she's more of a weapon in Waite's lethal pressing defense.

"I like to play on the press and make the other team have to throw the ball over me," she said. "It's hard for them to pass the ball over my head, because I'm pretty tall."

Howard has a 2.5 GPA. She chose Florida State, she said, because they had her best interests in mind both academically and athletically.

She also has lofty goals. She'd like to eventually play professional basketball. Even if that doesn't pan out, she'd like to become an entrepreneur.

"I want to own my own business," she said. "Like an athletics business -- designing my own shoes and clothes."

If she becomes the next Venus or Serena Williams with her own line of apparel, odds are it will be the best people ever see.

Howard becomes the 23rd annual winner -- and the first from Northwestern Ohio -- of the AP's Ms. Basketball award. She will receive a plaque in the shape of Ohio.

Others considered for the award included Ally Malott of Middletown Madison, South Euclid Regina's Tay'ler Mingo, Twinsburg's Malina Howard, Hannah Robertson of New Albany and Dayton Chaminade-Julienne's Samarie Walker.

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