Brittany Ellis and Juke Harris exit Hall gym.

 

CCC Players of the Year with all-star moms Dina Ellis and Ebony Harris.

 

By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — As a freshman, Brittany Ellis averaged 7 points per game for North Rowan, but as a senior she became the No. 7 scorer in program history.

Ellis made two major jumps during her career, from freshman year to sophomore year and from junior year to senior year.

Her growth was a testament to a pleasant combination of talent, work ethic — and confidence.

“I’ve always been that shy girl,” Ellis said. “But when you’ve got confidence, there’s nothing in this world you can’t do.”

Confidence was the mantra preached by North coach Darra Walker from the first day of practice. The former Livingstone College’ star’s message was that you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, and Ellis was one of those who bought in. If she was open, she let it fly.

During a record-setting season that brought championship banners back to the North gym, Ellis didn’t hesitate to shoot. She didn’t hesitate to drive. She was quicker and tougher than she’d ever been and could score in more ways, not just 3-pointers and layups. She got after it with unwavering energy and averaged 20.7 points per game. Her teammate Bailee Goodlett scored at a dizzying pace that short-circuited scoreboards, but Goodlett missed six games, so Ellis actually scored more points than any girl in the county this season — 579.

Ellis’ effort didn’t go unnoticed by the coaches in the Central Carolina Conference. They saw how Ellis elevated her game and put the Cavaliers’ offense on her back in the games when both Goodlett twins were sidelined. Coaches watched her keep a good team rolling. They watched North end a long losing streak against Salisbury with emphatic home-and-home CCC victories.

For the record, during that six-game stretch when the Cavaliers were missing 40 percent of the starting lineup and had lost reserves to injury and illness, Ellis had games with 33, 33, 32 and a career-high 39 points. She also scored 27 of North’s 50 in a 51-50 non-conference loss to Central Davidson. In those six games in December and early January, Ellis scored more than half of North’s points.

At the end of the regular season, Ellis was voted Central Carolina Conference Player of the Year. That wasn’t a shock if you followed North basketball.

While her confidence swelled, Ellis stayed humble about her ability, so that recognition stunned her a little bit.

“Honestly, I hadn’t thought about being player of the year, didn’t even know the conference gave an award for that,” Ellis said. “I definitely wasn’t looking for awards. All I was doing was playing basketball the best that I could. I credit a coach who believed in me and teammates who believed in me.”

Ellis’  freshman season was the shortened COVID season. She totaled 94 points and a 1,000-point career looked like a longshot.

But she averaged 11.7 points as a sophomore and 13.1 as a junior, racking up more than 300 points in both seasons.

She missed three games with an injury early in her junior season. One of those games was against a strong Albemarle team that did some talking after whipping the Cavaliers 65-50. There wasn’t anything Ellis could do about it that night, but she quietly circled Albemarle on the calendar for her senior season. Those games were going to be as big for her as Salisbury games.

Albemarle was stout again this season — 25-4 with a strong playoff run — but North handled the Bulldogs 87-72 at home and 75-64 on the road. Ellis totaled 54 points in those two games. She’s rarely emotional outwardly, but you can light a fire in her that burns hot.

As a senior, Ellis experienced the thrill of scoring her 1,000th point during the Dale’s Sporting Goods Sam Moir Christmas Classic played at Catawba College. She sat down early in that game with 39 points and probably could have scored 50. The 1,000-point milestone meant a lot to her family, especially her grandfather Ralph Ellis, a Salisbury-Rowan Hall of Famer and a North Rowan assistant coach.

In February, during the peak of basketball season, Ellis made a Saturday appearance in Winston-Salem for the 1A/2A Indoor Track State Championships.

She placed third in the shot put.

“With basketball, I hadn’t had a track practice, so finishing third in the state was actually pretty crazy,” Ellis said. “I always want to win, but I couldn’t feel bad about it.”

Track and field is Ellis’ thing.

She already is a four-time state champion in outdoor track and field with two 1A titles in the shot put and two in the discus (1A and 2A have separate state championships in the outdoor season). With some rainy weather, North has only competed in two meets so far in the outdoor season, but as  long as she stays healthy, Ellis, already the most decorated female thrower in county history, will have an excellent chance to become a six-time state champ in mid-May.

Ellis’ terrific senior basketball season culminated with 1,354 career points. As satisfying as it was for her, it hasn’t really changed her career trajectory. She’s still looking to be a track and field athlete in college.

“I love the game of basketball and have always enjoyed playing basketball, but I’ve never put myself out there as someone who wanted to be recruited for basketball,” Ellis said. “A lot of people have told me, ‘Hey, maybe you should think about playing college basketball,’ but it would be very hard to do both sports in college, and I’m still looking to get a scholarship to a four-year school for track. I’m going to let this track season play out and we’ll see what happens.”