The Selma Times-Journal

The past four years, Erica Lumpkin has helped build the foundation for the Selma girls’ basketball team.

Now the standout point forward will be charged with a similar task on the next level.

Lumpkin signed to play with Alabama State Wednesday after a yearlong courtship with the school.

“They were the school that recruited me the highest throughout the basketball year,” Lumpkin said. “They’re nice, and I know a lot of people that play on the team already. I expect to win championships and get a good education.”

Lumpkin leaves Selma after a stellar career that began when she averaged 13 points per game off the bench. She has compiled a career scoring mark of 1,951 points and averaged 17.7 ppg as a senior. She also has a career average of 8.3 rebounds per game.

“We here at Selma High School would first like to thank and congratulate Erica Lumpkin for her many accomplishments and the outstanding job she has done both academically and athletically during her tenure here,” stated coach Anthony Harris. “Her contribution has been a key factor to the team’s success the past four years.”

To go along with her play on the court, Lumpkin currently holds a 3.78 grade point average.

She is a member of the school’s peer mediation group and a student leader.

“She presents herself well on the court and off,” said Selma principal Roosevelt Wilson. “She will do extremely well academically and athletically in her career at Alabama State.”

Lumpkin’s parents credited her hard work and the encouragement of her coach as the main reasons for her success.

“All her hard work is finally paying off,” Alphonso Lumpkin said. “(Coach Harris) has always wanted the best for her, especially when she wasn’t giving her best.”

Erica Lumpkin also saw her coach as major factor in getting her into the position she is now.

“He was hard on me because he always knew I could do better than what I did at first,” she said.