PHILIPPI -
Monday night, the Alderson-Broaddus women's basketball team almost beat West Liberty, one of the best teams in the WVIAC. The Lady Battlers fell in overtime 79-76. A former Morgantown High player led A-B's charge and she's the subject of this week's WVIAC Spotlight.
Amanda Peoples will tell you, she was not the star player at Morgantown. She wasn't all-state or all-conference. She almost didn't join the Battlers.
"Well I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to continue and play college ball and then I just kind of got to looking. I really picked a school based on what my major was going to be and A-B was the only school that had what I wanted to do," admitted Peoples. "So, that's kind of what led me to come here."
"She came in here and she had the attitude of I want to get better, I want to be the best I can be. She's been a good player every year. She played for us as a freshman as well but her progression is amazing; working on things I tell her to. She goes home for the summer and she comes back able to do it," said A-B Women's Basketball Coach Josh Allen. "It's all about hard work. She's put her time in the weight room well. She's about 5'8", 5'9" and last year she was almost second in the conference rebounding. It's a matter of effort. She puts in the time when I tell her to."
The junior is a Biology major with a minor in Chemistry. Even though she had doubts, Peoples said that she liked the coach and the team at A-B and that helped make her decision to play a little easier. Coach Allen recalled that Peoples had skill when he saw her play in high school but that she was surrounded by better players who were being recruited by top notch schools. He knew of her love for basketball, so he figured she would eventually realize what he already knew, that she wanted to continue her career at the next level. Coach Allen saw something in Amanda Peoples that he knew he needed at A-B.
"She's kind of one of those hidden players," said Coach Allen of his leading scorer. "Not many people knew about her or if they did, they weren't really willing to give her a chance. I went and watched her a couple of times and you could just see little things, little intangibles that you knew were going to be good. She puts in the effort. She works her but off in the weight room, works on her shot, everything. It's been fun coaching a type of player like that."
Peoples led A-B in scoring as a sophomore and is atop that category now as a junior. She said that learning to handle the ball more in college was a tough transition and learning to shoot from beyond the arc has helped.
"Well my three point shot has gotten a lot better than it was in high school because I was a forward in high school and then I moved to a guard when I came here," said Peoples. "So, my three point shot has gotten tremendously better and I've just been working on still posting up and taking it to the basket but mostly it's my three point shot."
"I tell her every day that I want her to be more of a scorer. She had a good game tonight (Monday) but I want her to average 20 to 25 points and close to 10 rebounds," said Coach Allen. "The good thing is that she expects it out of herself without me having to tell her. I expect her to keep getting better, continue to build, bring this team along kind on her shoulders along with the rest of the team."
It's a good thing Coach Allen convinced Peoples to play for the Battlers. In just her third year at A-B she was voted a captain by her teammates and he now uses her as an example to West Virginia recruits. Coach Allen points out to similar players that here is a girl that could have been overlooked but has now succeeded at Alderson-Broaddus.
"I like it because I like that my family can come watch me play and I like that I'm close to home and everything and that people from back home can come watch me," said Peoples. "It's nice. I like it a lot."
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