Brittany Brewer spent the months leading up to this year’s basketball season getting ready for the future – but not necessarily at Wylie.
Yes, Wylie’s 6’4’’ star player was preparing for her senior season, but she was also preparing for college basketball. Teams from all over the country were recruiting her and the recruiting process was a little overwhelming.
“It was crazy,” she said. “I was on the phone for two weeks straight al the time. It was really cool to have that many opportunities to go anywhere in the country – not necessarily school-wise but location-wise. But it was also really stressful.”
Brittany chose to play close to home at Texas Tech University.
Brittany started playing basketball so young she doesn’t even remember why or how she got started. She was always a little tall for her age, but it wasn’t until about 4th grade that she really started to tower over her peers.
“I was tall, but then I started to get a lot taller than everyone,” she said.
After her 8th grade year, and the summer before her freshman year, she began to get really serious about basketball.
She made the varsity as a freshman, and during the first few weeks of the season, the veteran post player on the team was still playing volleyball in the playoffs. Brittany got the opportunity to start in her place and never gave it up.
“There was a post player that was in volleyball that would have started if she was there,” Brittany said.
It wasn’t long before colleges were calling Coach Kurt Richardson about Brittany. She gradually started getting more and more letters and emails, and then the phone calls started coming.
She had 10 colleges make home visits before she finally chose to play at Texas Tech, but she said she also really considered Texas and Stanford. In the end, she liked the role that Tech had in mind for her.
“I definitely liked the family atmosphere,” she said. “I could really see where the program was headed. They knew exactly where they wanted to use me.”
Brittany said Tech wants to play her as a power forward rather than center, an idea she really likes. Although she is tall at 6’4’’, she is thin. Tech has another player who will be playing center.
“We are close to the same height, but she is a lot stronger,” Brittany said. “I am thinner than a lot of the 5s (centers), so I have to be banging the whole time.”
She said her experiences at the state tournament gave her a chance to play against other tall girls. She is always the tallest in her district and even in the region.
“That was a big eye-opener,” she said. “I finally got to play someone around my size.”
She said she has worked the last few summers to improve her dribbling and her outside shooting to be a better player. She hopes that pays off this year.
She helped lead the Lady Bulldogs to the state tournament during her sophomore and junior years. They got 3rd place the first year, and 2nd place last year, and Brittany said the goal is 1st place this year.
“I want first,” she said. “I really do. That would be really exciting.”