 "Photo: Juan Blas/The Daily Gamecock")
If you had to guess what a USC student who is double-majoring in international business and marketing, not to mention working on a Spanish minor, did over Thanksgiving break, you would probably say studying or relaxing from a demanding semester.
Not so for senior Brionna Dickerson. As a crucial member of the Carolina women's basketball team, Dickerson travelled with her team to Cancun, Mexico, to play in the Cancun Thanksgiving Classic. The Gamecocks ended up winning the tournament, while Dickerson was named tournament MVP.
The victories during the tournament extended the team's winning streak to three games, a great improvement from their 0-2 start to the season.
"It was so frustrating for all of us to have worked so hard and come up with that 0-2 record to start the season," Dickerson said. "It definitely was a momentum builder for us to end up winning those next three games."
Holding a starting position on an SEC team, as well as participating in the No. 1-ranked international business school in the country, Dickerson has experienced immense success both on the court and in the classroom.
However, her final year as a Gamecock this season is especially important to her. While in high school, Dickerson was a standout basketball player, scoring well over 3,000 points entering her senior year. Dreaming of making her mark in plenty of record books during her senior year, the star was forced to miss her entire senior season due to an injury.
"This year is so important to me because I didn't play my senior year of high school," Dickerson said. "I had so many chances to break so many different records that year, and I think it was a lesson for me to reevaluate myself as a player."
With her last year to play in high school snatched away, Dickerson wanted to have a great senior season as a collegiate athlete. The addition of new coach Dawn Staley gave the senior the spark she needed for a great season.
"With Coach Staley, it's so much easier to evaluate myself again and figure out what I need to take it to the next level. She knows what it is that I need, and I want to grasp onto her as much as possible to get as much instruction from her before I leave," Dickerson said. "Her knowledge and her experience overall, being both a coach and a player, has helped me learn more in these past three months than I have learned in these past three years of being here."
Now five games into the season, the senior believes her coach's drive to succeed has formed a more than capable team.
"Even though we do have a young team, I think we have a very good and talented team," Dickerson said. "As long as we all continue to play hard and not take these games for granted, I think we'll go very far this season."
To go along with her high hopes for the team, Dickerson puts her personal goals on a high level as well. Graduating with qualified experience in International Business and a working knowledge of another language, she hopes to find a job overseas that will allow her to work and play basketball at the same time.
"All my options are really open right now," Dickerson said.
Brionna Dickerson is the ideal definition of a student-athlete, successful and bright with plenty of potential from both an academic and an athletic viewpoint.
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