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Danbury point guard excels
Published January 22, 2008
DANBURY — Since the seventh grade, Bianca Chambless had been targeted to lead the Danbury Lady Panthers at the point.
Six years later, Chambless still is taking the ball to the hoop any chance she gets, and by the time she takes her last dribble in Panther gear, she likely will wind up as the all-time scorer in Lady Panther history.
“I remember watching her as a seventh-grader and just smiling,” Danbury coach Michelle Cannon said. “I knew she had the skills for this game.”
Chambless has been the point guard since she first took over the job midway through her freshman year.
“I’ve watched her improve over the years and her desire has always been to get better at all positions,” Cannon said.
“The love and passion that she brings to the game has been an inspiration to anybody who wants to play.”
In the second half of District 27-2A play, Danbury is sitting at 9-17 overall and 4-5 in district play.
With an outside chance to make the postseason, Chambless is giving her all in her last hurrah at the high school level.
“I am not looking toward my last game. I don’t want that to be the end because I am looking forward to the playoffs,” Chambless said. “I am looking at it as my last home game, but I don’t want it to end our season.”
In four seasons on varsity, Chambless has scored 1,291 points with five games remaining. This year alone she’s hit 82 treys, and set the Lady Panthers’ single-game mark with eight against Houston Can Academy on Jan. 15.
“My teammates helped me a lot by setting screens for me and just told me to keep shooting until I broke the record,” Chambless said. “They were happy for me and the crowd was great.”
Chambless surpassed Kristen Grassmuck, who set the mark in 2004.
“She is definitely the leader on the team and knows more basketball than anyone we have,” Cannon said. “She is also smart enough to realize that she will do whatever she has to, to get it to a teammate.”
Her progression in the scoring column has been noticeable, finishing with 102 points as a freshman with 10 treys. As a sophomore, Chambless scored 239 points with 42 3-pointers, and last season garnered 396 total points with 66 long balls.
“Her biggest area of improvement this season has been her defense,” Cannon said. “We all know she can shoot threes, but she has improved on driving to the basket and being able to get open when double-teamed and passing off to teammates.”
In 26 games this year, Chambless has 554 points and will have well more than 200 3-pointers by the end of her high school career.
Though Chambless is not looking forward to her last game in Panthers gear, the 5-foot-2 guard does have an offer to continue playing.
“Realizing that high school ball is almost over and knowing I have college to look forward to, it will be hard knowing that I will not be able to play on my home court anymore,” Chambless said. “I am going to the University of Texas at Tyler and play for coach (Terri) Deike, and then enter the nursing program so that I can work with cancer kids after I get my bachelor’s and master’s degrees.”
Tyler is a Division III program that plays in the American Southwest Conference.
As she has improved on the court, Chambless also has tried passing her savvy on to her teammates.
“I’ve always tried to help my teammates by teaching them or just encourage them in the game,” Chambless said. “I enjoy the game so much that I will help them during practice or after practice sometimes. Along the way I’ve learned to be a leader and also get to know the strategy of the game and I’ve had to learn a lot of it along the way.
“I’ve improved as well by being the loudest one on the court and just getting ready for college for next year.”
A year-round player, Chambless played for the Houston Hot Shots in her freshman and sophomore years in the offseason. The last two years, she’s played with the Houston Elite.
“Bianca has been someone who has raised the bar for our team with her play,” Cannon said.
Not one to finish until the final seconds are off the clock, Chambless firmly believes her team still has a shot at the postseason this year.
“We need to come together and turn everything around and fix whatever we have to fix,” Chambless said. “I know the teams that beat us. We can beat them and we can’t have a bad quarter or half. So I just want us to finish the whole game.”
Danbury hosts Brazos at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
Joel Luna is the sports editor for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0160.
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