Feb. 25, 2003

BOCA RATON, FL - A year ago this March, Tamica Pierce sat in an Alabama hospital awaiting results. Soon she would be told how her first year as the starting forward for the Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team would end. Not surprisingly, Pierce was devastated when she was told her season was over. Surprisingly, her injured ankle wasn't what effectively ended her season and hurt her so much. Rather, FAU had lost, 64-63, on a last second shot in the Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship, and Pierce wasn't able to help her team when it needed her the most.

"It was very painful for me to not be there with my team," said Pierce, not even thinking about the pain she endured from her high ankle sprain. "It was very difficult to hear the score, and that we lost by one." Pierce went down just before halftime of the championship game in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. She was taken to the hospital with her team up 14, 38-24. Not being able to help her team in its biggest game ever is something Pierce will never forget.

Pierce came to FAU after playing two years at Northeast Mississippi Junior College, in Booneville, Mississippi. While at Northeast, she averaged a stifling 24.8 points, and 11.3 rebounds, and was named a Junior College All-American. Every time she stepped on the court, defenses were set up to slow her down. "I think in junior college I was really targeted," Pierce said.

Not too much has changed since stepping on the floor for FAU. After her first season in the A-Sun, she was named First-Team All-Conference. Teams still focus on shutting her down. Only now she doesn't feel she has to score like she once did in junior college. "I was double-teamed in the Belmont game, and sometimes triple-teamed, but my teammates stepped up big time," explained Pierce. "There are other big factors on our team that can hurt opponents just as well as I can." Still, Pierce wears a big target for opposing defenses, which seemed almost unthinkable when she first started playing.

Pierce didn't begin playing basketball until the eighth grade and, even then, she did so just to fit in. "When I first started I was really bad. I was just doing it to be with the 'in' crowd," admits Pierce.

Basketball was indeed a struggle for Pierce. When pressed, she will talk about the time she accidentally scored in her opponent's basket. "I was wide open, and I think I figured out why I was wide open," she jokes. Only she isn't joking because she literally knew nothing about basketball. Due to her novice, Pierce's coach tried to keep the game really basic for her. "My coach told me, 'Pierce, just put the ball in the hole," she says.

Her coach's advice must have sunk in because Pierce began to accumulate awards and trophies after playing just three short years. Basketball suddenly went from being a difficult game and something to do to fit in, to something that was fun and she was good at.

Yet, as suddenly as basketball became fun, Pierce was ready to give up the game just as fast. Her aunt, Tracy Spike, whom Pierce had lived with since she was 11, decided to move the two of them from their home in Ft. Myers to Atlanta where they would be closer to relatives. The move was hard for Pierce. She had her best friends in Ft. Myers, and she had coaches there who taught her everything she knew about basketball. "I told my aunt I wasn't playing for anybody else," said Pierce. Pierce was close enough to her high school coaches in Ft. Myers that she actually lived with them long enough to finish out her sophomore season before joining Spike in Atlanta.

Upon moving, Pierce decided she would continue to play basketball in parks and for recreation, but as far as organized basketball, she was finished. She didn't want to learn the game from anyone else. Pierce's attitude changed when she agreed to play in a church league for her other aunt, Beverly Isaac. In her first church game, Pierce's team defeated what was supposed to be the dominant team in the league and Aunt Isaac had seen enough. "My Aunt started saying. 'You need to go and play.' She was a real pusher," explained Pierce. So with her aunt's pushing, Pierce jumped back into basketball and has never thought of leaving the game again.

Pierce's decision of sticking with basketball turned out to be a good thing for the Lady Owls. Besides being the top scorer and rebounder this year for FAU, at 13.3 and 6.5, respectively, Pierce is also the team's leader.

"She is definitely our leader, it is something that you don't really fully appreciate, or understand, or can't really put into words until its not there," says head coach Chancellor Dugan. To offer evidence of Pierce's importance Dugan has to look no further than a recent game. "When we played Mercer we were down, and she goes back in, and we win the game."

With 4:22 showing on the clock, Pierce looked up from her spot on the bench and saw FAU was trailing by 10 points, to a 2-11 Mercer team. Up to that point, Pierce was having a forgettable game. Her four points and four turnovers were proof enough of that. Her last game wasn't much better in which she tallied just three points and five turnovers in just 16 minutes of play. Making matters worse, over the last two games, the normally consistent Pierce had missed seven of 10 field goal attempts. However, none of that would matter, because on this night, Pierce would not miss from the field again.

Pierce immediately took over after checking back into the game. The senior scored six straight points by making a lay-up and four free throws. Just like that, her team was within four and had momentum. "I just told myself we're not going to lose this game," she said. "My team was hustling and playing hard. I needed to hustle and play hard. I told myself to just step it up and play basketball." In the final four minutes against Mercer, Pierce went 3-for-3 from the field, scored 11 points, and had two steals. More importantly, her team won the game, 77-76. "I think that when the game is on the line she wants the ball," Dugan says of her star player.

Pierce does want the ball, but she is also a very unselfish player that likes to get her teammates involved as well. Sometimes, she can be too unselfish and her desire to pass ends up hurting, rather than helping, the Lady Owls. In fact, she has been accused of passing too much at times. "We like to give her a hard time about her passing," explains coach Dugan. "Her teammates don't really want her to pass the ball. Her teammates and coaches want her to shoot the ball. With a shot, it is a 50-50 chance it is going in. She is that good of a shooter. On the other hand, with a lot of her passes, we don't have a chance to get them."

Pierce laughs when she is asked if she passes too much. "I don't think I pass too much. I think I make some poor decisions when passing," she says.

Nonetheless, Pierce is always looking for an open teammate and will take a victory anyway she can get one. Pierce's selflessness is apparent off the court as well. She tends to shy away from too much publicity, insisting her teammates are what make FAU so special. "If I wasn't down there posting, and my guard didn't give me the ball, I wouldn't be able to score," she says. "Without my teammates there would be no me."

Where Pierce is a year from now will once again depend on basketball. Hopefully if things go well, Pierce will be playing on the hardwood somewhere else. However, if she doesn't continue playing basketball, Pierce plans on putting her degree in social work to good use (she will graduate this spring). "I can't stand to see a child abused or neglected," she says. Pierce's caring persona is probably a reflection of the close family she has back in Atlanta. Pierce admits she has a difficult time being away from her family, but the support and love she receives when she does see them keeps her motivated. "I love (my family) to death, and wouldn't trade them for the world," she says.

Pierce also wouldn't trade her basketball experience for anything in the world. She takes the good with the bad and truly loves the game. There is no telling whether or not FAU would have won the 2002 A-Sun Championship if Pierce had not been injured. However, one thing is certain this year. With much of last year's team returning and playing well, the Lady Owls have a good chance at finding themselves back in that championship situation. Only, if Pierce has her way, she will be sending out a message rather than waiting to receive one. "I want to be cutting down nets this year," she says with a smile.