Melanie Henderson '14 Recruiting Profile

My name is Melanie, I am a sophomore at Chaffey College. I am graduating with a degree in University Studies this May and am looking to continue my education and playing basketball at a 4 year university. My major is business/ logistics. 

My freshman year I attended La Sierra University, a private NAIA school, on a partial athletic and academic scholarship. I was a starter as a freshman and our team made basketball history at this university by almost making it to Nationals. We lost that game by 2 points.

I red-shirted my first year at Chaffey and am now the team captain of a team playing in the most competitive league here in Southern California. We started off with 16 team members and are now in mid-season with 8 players left. I enjoy the challenge.

We played in 3 pre-season tournaments. I received the All-Tournament Award for two of the three tournaments. The other one went to my sister who plays on the same team with me. I am a strong leader on the court, have a high basketball IQ and often find myself helping guide my team. I am a team player who will take my shot, but will also recognize when my team mate is open for a better opportunity and will pass the ball. I am also a strong believer in "Offense wins games, but defense wins Championships".

Having played mainly as a center or power forward during my high school years, basically wherever I was needed, I have developed into a diverse player. Now in college I play the small forward, my favorite position, but have also improved my shooting and ball handling to be the shooting guard for my team. I comfortably shoot 3's, have a nice jump shot, and am not afraid to make contact when going in for the lay-ups. My free-throw percentage is 81 at this time.

My goal right now is to continue to play basketball while pursuing a great education and getting my Bachelor degree or even Master's degree. And, hopefully in the future, I would like to also find the time to give back to the community I live in, by teaching young girls how to play basketball and coach a NJB girls team, because that is where the love for the game began for me.