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Lady ‘Dores’ Team “Mom” Embraces Role
MARIANNA - Her teammates call her the team “Mom”.
Everywhere Shanae Cotton goes, her smile never leaves her face. The Panhandle Conference Player of the Year knows her role on the court and as the head of her family.
“When my teammates are sick they call me ‘Shanae, go get medicine, I’m sick,’” Cotton said. “I also make soup for sick teammates.”
The six-foot-three Temple-bound sophomore is second on the team in scoring with 14.8 points per game and leads the team in rebounds with eight per game.
“She’s our leader,” Gulf Coast guard Dominic Cranford said. “How Shanae goes, our whole ball club goes. She’s the motivation on the team. When she plays good, everybody on the team plays good.”
“She gives you those intangibles that help make your team go, give you confidence” Gulf Coast coach Roonie Scovel said. “She brings that motherly, sisterly figure that helps you win.”
Cotton came out of Harrison Central High School in Gulf Port, Miss. She was highly recruited by Kentucky and Florida, but felt under prepared for division one basketball.
“She committed to us in early February of her senior year,” Scovel said. “She’s just been committed to that and loyal to the program. She just kind of bought in from the get-go.”
“I guess you can say that I’m there for them when they need it,” Cotton said. “I just give them that motherly comfort.”
Her teammates will need her on Friday afternoon in FCCAA State Tournament semi-finals against Seminole CC at 1 p.m. at Chipola College in Marianna.
Chipola will play Tallahassee CC at 6 p.m.
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