Selma’s shooting stars

Published 12:00 am Saturday, December 25, 2004

On the court, they work side by side as one of the area’s best shooting duos in girls’ high school basketball.

Off the court, they’re even more inseparable.

Selma High School seniors Ashley Green and Santana Seay are two major reasons why the Lady Saints are ranked sixth in the state’s Class 6A girls’ poll with an 8-2 record. They are the team’s highest scorers, averaging just over 10 points a game.

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Away from basketball, these two teammates share more than just the same team name on the front of their uniforms.

“We’re more like cousins,” said Green, Selma’s senior point guard. “She’s just cool. She’s a nice person to be around.”

Seay agreed.

“We’re pretty close,” she said. “When we’re not playing basketball, we’ll go out and ride around, get something to eat.”

The closeness and trust shared off the court also can be seen at game time.

“If I’m not doing well,” Seay said, “Ashley can take over. If I’m shooting the ball well, she’ll rebound. If she’s shooting well, I’ll rebound.”

What about head-to-head?

Both girls said they work more on improving their skills rather than playing against each other during practice at home and school. However, some competition does exist – when it comes to video games.

Green said she owns a PlayStation 2, while Seay has an X-Box game system. Seay said she and Green usually shy away from playing basketball games on either system, instead going for more shooting and snowboarding games.

However, Ashley disagreed.

“Oh, we play a lot of basketball games,” she said.

While Green admitted that she and her close friend share a competitive nature when is comes to video games, she would admit who won the majority of the time.

“Sometimes she wins, sometimes I win,” Green said. “Sometimes we stop at a tie.”

These two are not just about fun and games. Green and Seay both said they have plenty of time to talk.

“We talk about school, basketball, boys and stuff,” Seay said. “We share a lot of things. She’s a good person to talk to.”

While Green called their conversations “girl talk,” she added that rarely do their conversations get very deep.

“She does most of the talking,” Green said. “But she’s not hard to shut up. Just get her with a group of people who don’t talk and she won’t say anything.”

Seay and Green have played basketball together since the sixth grade and have been on the Selma girls’ varsity squad for four years. That, however, will end at the conclusion of this season, when the girls go to college.

Green said it was unlikely that she and Seay would attend the same college, but both could play college basketball.

More importantly will be that two friends who have been so close for so long will be separated.

“We’ll keep in touch,” said Green, who has received offers from Troy State and Alabama, among other schools. “I guess when we’re separated, we’ll find out what happens then.”

Green said she would like to either be an engineering or radiology major.

Seay also has aspirations of going to Troy State and majoring in Sports Medicine.

“I don’t really know where Ashley’s going yet,” Seay said. “Wherever she goes, I’ll be happy for her.”