THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200229
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
KIZZY DUNBAR IS almost never at home.
Most of the time she can be found at her sister's house, where nephews Develle, 5, and J'quan, 4, keep things lively. The two boys have a basketball court in their room, and Dunbar plays the role of referee as her nephews try to take the ball to the hoop.
``They don't got the hang of it yet,'' said Dunbar.
If the two boys take after their young aunt at all, they'll end up being better passers than scorers. Dunbar, a senior forward for the Oscar Smith girls' basketball team, would rather dish the ball than see it swish through the net by her own hand.
It's a habit coach Patty Walsh would like to see her break.
``I've been talking to her a lot about taking the ball to the basket more, because she's a good shooter,'' said Walsh. ``But she's an excellent passer. Not real flashy, but she sees the whole floor. It's not like they're trick passes . . . just all of a sudden, the ball is gone.''
Dunbar, 17, was taught to play by older brother Miguel Haskins. She started playing for the Tigers as a freshman and gathered more and more experience as a sophomore and junior, even though she played in the shadow of former Oscar Smith standout and 1994 Player of the Year Angela Carter.
Playing behind Carter was ``very hard, because some games I felt like I played better than her but in the paper there'd be a little something about me, and Angela would get most of the credit,'' Dunbar said. ``But I didn't let it get me down, because we were a team.''
Just when it looked like Dunbar was starting to come into her own, she let her grades slip and was declared ineligible during the second semester.
Even so, she says she wasn't embarrassed by the misstep.
``I wasn't ashamed at all, really, because I knew I had another chance in my senior year. I was just playing around and wasn't serious about school, because all I wanted to do was play basketball,'' Dunbar said. ``I almost cried about it, but I figured there was no use in crying.''
The suspension didn't keep her away from the court. Dunbar went to almost every home game with friends, and on Oscar Smith's road trips she rode the bus as the team's manager.
Most importantly, Dunbar hit the books and turned things around at school. At home, she got a reality check.
``They told me to stop playing around with my grades,'' she said.
Her sister, Crystal Haskins, provided sympathy ``after she stopped laughing at me,'' and brother Miguel ``called me stupid, but I knew he was just kidding.''
Still, sleepwalking through half her junior year has resulted in at least one lasting consequence. Although Dunbar has received feelers from UNC Wilmington, junior college is the route she will probably take.
``She's got the range, and she can pass, dribble and shoot,'' said Walsh, who will be sending a game tape of Dunbar to Louisburg Junior College in North Carolina. ``In the beginning of the season, her defense was kind of lacking because she was spending all her energy on offense.''
Walsh has forced the issue with Dunbar, matching her up against the opposing team's best scorer. Dunbar recently took on Deep Creek's Tamara Sivels and held the high-scoring senior to 13 points in a 53-49 Oscar Smith win.
Leadership is another area where Dunbar has had to step up and assert herself. Although she usually isn't very forceful about making her feelings known to her teammates, especially best friends Charita Matthews, Tonya Swain, and Courtney Spencer, there are times when she loses a little bit of her cool.
``We argue not off the court, but on,'' Dunbar said. ``It's mostly me because I get frustrated and yell at them. Then I have to apologize.''
Given the turnaround she's made in the classroom, Dunbar should be pretty good at making amends. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Kizzy Dunbar, a forward for the Oscar Smith girls' basketball team,
prefers passing the ball.
by CNB