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Page 13
Campus Review
February 26, 2013
unique talent on the court. One of the
fastest players you’ll never see until she
picks your pocket with a steal on the
Lakers’ full-court press, Griggs already
owns a place on the 2011 Elite Eight All-
Tournament team, a selection to the 2011-
2012 Peach Belt All-Conference team,
four Peach Belt Player of the Week honors
during the current season (she’s the odds-
on favorite to be the Peach Belt Player of
the Year), and, most importantly, a nation-
al championship ring, earned in the
Lakers’ successive 23 point, 17 point, and
19 point beat-downs in the 2011 Elite
Eight in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Thus, the 5-5 senior guard has made a
home at Clayton State, a 7,000-student
University outside of Atlanta known as
the place where dreams are made real,
having first come on campus as a high
school freshman, attending the summer
basketball camps run by Coach Dennis
Cox. While part of Griggs’ dream may
have been to play collegiately for Cox,
another part of her hometown experience
is to play in front of her biggest fan, and
her athletic hero while she was growing
up, her mom, Waikeeta Flagg.
The secrets to the Lakers’, and Griggs’
success, are athleticism and speed, which
Cox makes good use of in the Lakers’ 40
minute, end-to-end press. While Griggs’
hero is rightly her mother, it could also be
Usain Bolt. And while she wears number
12 for the Lakers, it’s been said that it
looks like she’s wearing 121212, because
she’s so fast, her number’s just a blur. It’s
certainly fitting that she went to high
school in Jonesboro, since that’s the site
of Tara in “Gone With The Wind,” some-
thing that’s happened to 23 other teams so
far in the 2012/2013 season.
Combine speed, which helps her average
a Peach Belt-leading 3.7 steals per game
(ironically, she’s a criminal justice major),
with a picture-perfect jump shot, and Cox
has an offensive and defensive weapon
that can turn any game around in minutes.
To put it another way, Griggs is the type
of player who can dominate a game at the
key moments.
“MeMe is such a dynamic player.
Everything changes when she steps onto
the floor,” says Cox. “She is definitely
playing at a very high level right now –
the best basketball of her career. She is
also a great teammate and leader, being a
captain in her senior season. She has been
fun to watch, and it is an added bonus that
she has gotten to do it in front of her
friends and family.”
Family means a lot to Griggs, especially
her hero and biggest fan.
“My mom is my everything. She is defi-
nitely my hero, my angel, my protector,
my best friend, my biggest fan, and even
my biggest enemy at times,” she says.
“Enemy you might ask? When everyone
is walking about telling me how good I
am or how great I played, she's telling me
how bad I actually played or how humble
I must remain. It seems a little harsh, but
it motivates me. No one knows my true
potential like my mom. Like any other
parent, she knows her child better than
anyone on this Earth.
“Growing up, I heard my mom was star
softball player and really good basketball
player, but she didn't have that driving
force, or that extra push or even the parental
guidance she has provided me with that I
cherish so much. It's always a blessing to
have her around. But now, more than ever,
each day I step on the court I'm reminded
through prayer that I do this all for her as a
small token of appreciation in hopes of
making her proud.”
Griggs certainly made mom proud during
the Lakers’ 83-51 Homecoming win over
the University of Montevallo, the second
place team in the Peach Belt’s western
division. The Lakers ripped off two utter-
ly devastating runs in the game, outscor-
ing the Falcons 21-2 and 21-3 respectively,
with Griggs getting 16 of her game-high 23
points during those 12 minutes of play.
That performance didn’t surprise Laker
fans, since Griggs also took over the
game, as great players will do, in Clayton
State’s two road wins over nationally-
ranked teams. In the Lakers’ 56-50 win
over then-third-ranked USC Aiken,
Griggs scored 20 points and added nine
rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Significantly, with the game tied at 50 in
the last minute, she tallied two assists, two
rebounds and the final two points of the
game, personally accounting for the six
points that made the difference at the end.
Then, in the Lakers’ 67-54 win at 23rd-
ranked Augusta State, Griggs scored 18 of
her 23 points and added four rebounds,
two steals and two assists in the second
half, bringing the Lakers back to a 13
point win from an 18 point deficit with
less than 18 minutes to play.
“MeMe Griggs – as she so often does –
took over the game in the final minutes,”
said Cox after that one.
Her ability to take over a game, to carry
her team, is extraordinary. When Griggs
and the Lakers get rolling, it sometimes
seems as if the other team is non-existent.
However, Griggs says there’s no secret to
streaks like that, or to carrying a team.
“Anytime you see those spurts, we've
more than likely gotten yelled at for being
lazy or maybe I've somehow managed to
Photo Credit: Kevin Liles | kdlphoto.com
Drameka “MeMe” Griggs in action at the 2013 women’s basketball Homecoming game.
Griggs, cont’d. from p. 1
Griggs, cont’d, p. 17