Shamauria Bridges doesn’t have your typical athlete story.
Most basketball players say that they started playing the game soon after learning how to walk, but it took Bridges a little bit longer to develop an interest in the sport.
Bridges spent around eight years in Macon, Georgia before moving to Miramar, Florida with her mother and father, Tremayne and Octavia Fisher. When she was young, Bridges enjoyed playing outside.
“I wanted to do gymnastics,” Bridges said. “That’s all me and all of my cousins used to do. We would go anywhere and do backflips off cars, houses … that’s what I was into but they wouldn’t let me so I ended up running track.”
She continued track through middle school until she got injured in seventh grade and put the spikes away and picked up a basketball — not knowing then that the switch she made would result in success down the line.
Bridges followed in the footsteps of her father. Her father played basketball and helped Bridges learn the game as well.
“When I first started playing I just wanted to do it because of my dad,” Bridges said. “My dad played basketball and he was really good at it … that’s how we got close. There were so many days I wanted to quit, but I thought ‘If I quit then we won’t be as close,’ that’s how I saw it. Once I got into high school I fell in love with it and I began to play for myself.”
Every opportunity there was in basketball, she took it. She played school ball, AAU, and other basketball leagues around Florida.
In high school, she played at Parkway Academy her freshman year before going to Hollywood Christian School in Hollywood, Florida, where she was a three-year letter winner and received a good amount of recognition including a state championship. After a good friend of her father and a close coach to Bridges changed high schools, Bridges followed and went to Miramar High School for her senior year.
Now in her senior year of college, Bridges is enjoying herself.
“It feels good,” Bridges said. “I’m just having fun, not really thinking about much. Just playing basketball and having fun. It’s my last chance.”
It didn’t take her long to get settled. During her freshman year, in her first career start, she led the team with a season-high 19 points. She later changed her season-high to 20 that year; 20 turned to 23 her sophomore year and 23 turned to 30 her junior year.
With her second year in a row earning a Preseason All-SoCon Selection, Bridges is having a successful senior season. Bridges will be preparing to take on Samford Thursday at 11 a.m. in Brooks Gym.
