Sophomore Erica Berry found her passion for basketball early on as she started playing competitively in fourth grade.

Berry helped the middle school team when she was in fourth grade which opened up her love for the game.

Berry played softball too growing up, but gave up the bat and glove because she thought it was played at a too slow of a pace.

“I like the competitiveness of basketball,” she said. “You are always on the floor, diving and you can always go after the ball. It feels like you are always standing still in softball.”

Berry said her motivation on the court are her parents and grandparents.

“They are easily my biggest motivation,” she said. “Also, I had a coach who pushed me to be the best I can be and I was always thankful for that.”

Berry is confident in her dribbling and other offensive abilities.

“My ball handling is definitely one of my strengths,” she said. “I am so short and I can weave in and out and I feel like I can make certain passes other people cannot make because of my height.”

Berry hopes to improve on her defense as gains more varsity experience.

“My on ball defense could use some work,” she said. “I need to pick it up and be continuous with it instead of picking it up every now and then.”

Berry has already set herself to a standard that she will go hard for her team day in and day out once her game is established.

“I want to be the best I can be for my team,” she said. “I want to make sure my defense is the best it can be. I feel like if I can get my defense down I could be a really good defender.”

Berry wears no. 5 and admits it has no significance to her.

“I used to wear no. 3 during middle school,” she said. “I loved that number and it always stuck with me. I changed it to five in high school and now I feel it is the number for me.”

Berry said her country music helps her prepare for games.

“I am listening to music all day,” she said. “No matter what I am doing. If we are allowed to have our phones out during class I am listening to music. I do not know why, but it does get my hyped up and it is my favorite kind of music.”

Berry said her team this season will have to work together to accomplish what they have in recent years.

“Our team is going to have to really stick together,” she said. “We cannot let anything break us up. We all already have a really good bond, but we have to make sure no one can break that up.”