After three knee surgeries and consistently playing through pain, Tuscaloosa native and senior shooting guard Ericka Russell’s college basketball career has been cut short.
“It was a tough decision, but everything happens for a reason I feel like,” Russell said. “I’m still going to be around supporting them throughout my years in Tuscaloosa. It was a tough decision, but I had to do what’s best for me long term.”
Head coach Wendell Hudson said Russell’s leadership will be missed on the court.
“When you ask the team if you were going to follow somebody and who would it be, Ericka’s name is the first name that always pops up,” Hudson said. “She’s been that model that we’ve used many times to say ‘if you want to be like somebody, this is the person you need to follow.’”
Russell is a member of the 1,000-point club, and finishes her career as one of the best three-point shooters and defensive players to come through Alabama. She ranks fourth in three-pointers made with 212, and fourth in three-pointers attempted with 709. Russell hit eight 3-pointers last season against Arkansas in Fayetteville tying an Alabama record.
Hudson frequently laments how Russell has displayed the enigma of the epitome of an athlete on and off the court.
“Ericka Russell is the epitome of being a student-athlete,” Hudson said. “We all kind of game in here together. She’s one of the people who people have looked at and said ‘okay, she’s a pretty good player, she works hard and I want to go play with her.’”
Russell’s teammates comment on how great of a leader she was and the effects she had on the team.
“She’s has been a leader since day one,” junior guard Jessica Merritt said. “When I first came in from junior college, she was one of the first to meet and greet me, so that showed a lot to me about her. She’s a good leader on this team, and we will miss her a lot.”
Junior forward Kyra Crosby echoed Merritt’s words.
“She understands what she means to the team as far as just being there and still letting us know that she still wants to be a part of the team even though she can’t be physically,” Crosby said. “She still means so much to us, and she’s still a leader, and she still motivates us and everything else as if she was playing.”
While everyone on the bench and in the stands praise Russell for her work ethic, personality and attitude, she remains humble when thinking about what her legacy will be.
“I feel like I’m more of a leader that shows it more than trying to say it all of the time,” Russell said. “[My legacy probably is] trying to be a great leader and making this team successful.”
Russell earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration in three years. She’s currently enrolled in the University’s sports management master’s program and hopes to work on the business side of athletics.
Russell went to Northridge High School and was the school’s first basketball player to sign a Division I scholarship. She was voted onto the 2011-2012 preseason All-SEC second team, was a Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award candidate and earned the MVP award at this year’s Paradise Jam, while leading her team to a first place finish in the tournament.
