Winning Tops Personal Stats for Basketball’s Brumfield

Winning Tops Personal Stats for Basketball’s Brumfield

BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff
Feb. 18, 1999

If and when Marla Brumfield is no longer in organized
basketball, you’ll still be able to find her on a court
somewhere playing pickup, she says. The Sid Richardson
College junior loves the game.

She’s also quite good at it. The Owl women’s basketball
scoring leader, Brumfield is also one of the team’s
best defensive players and has an all-around strong
game. She is the first Rice woman to earn all-conference
honors in more than one season and helped guide the
Owls to their first-ever NCAA postseason appearance
last year.

On Jan. 16, Brumfield became the 10th Owl in women’s
basketball history to surpass the 1,000 career points
milestone.

"I didn’t even know I had the thousand points
until after the game," she says with a smile.
"People kept saying ‘Congratulations.’ I thought
they were talking about the win."

For Brumfield, winning is more important than personal
milestones. Also more significant than stats, she says,
is the feeling that she’s met a challenge: When, for
example, "you’re guarding a good player and you
hold them to the minimum amount of points–that’s the
best," she says.

She is in no way a one-dimensional player. Against
TCU this year, on the road and on TV, she led the team
in points, rebounds, blocks and assists. Against Illinois
State she scored a season high 31 points. In last year’s
76-71 upset victory over 15th-ranked Hawaii, she had
a career best 33.

For Brumfield, basketball carries some nice perks.
"It’s an opportunity to go places and see things
you wouldn’t normally see," she says. For example,
this May the team will go on a basketball tour of Belgium
and Germany. She notes that Rice plays each conference
team twice a year, which gives her a chance to "make
friends" with players on other teams.

Cristy McKinney, head coach of women’s basketball,
describes Brumfield as "a great player who’s very
active in all phases of the game. Every night you can
count on Marla playing hard. She practices hard, too."
Brumfield, McKinney says, is an intense competitor
and "quality person off the court."

Brumfield calls McKinney "a great coach. She’s
patient and takes the time to see that each one of
our needs are met so we can perform at our best. She
works hard at what she does and loves what she does."

After she graduates, Brumfield would like to play
in the WNBA or in a league overseas. If she doesn’t
play basketball, she says she may go to graduate school
to study accounting or investment banking.

A mathematics/managerial studies double major, she
says Rice has been a good overall academic experience.

Brumfield started playing basketball in the seventh
grade because "it was something to do," and
because her father Eddie Brumfield, a former college
player, gently pushed her into the sport. "I wasn’t
very good at all," she says. The following summer
Brumfield practiced hard and dramatically improved
her game.

At Elsik High School in Alief, she helped lead her
school to a 100-11 record in her three years. She was
a USA Today "All-USA" honorable mention selection
her senior year and was named "Greater Houston
Player of the Year" by the Houston Chronicle.

Brumfield, who is a relaxed and graceful athlete
on the basketball court, also enjoys volleyball, tennis
and swimming. A professional basketball fan, she prefers
the WNBA over the NBA because, she says, "the
women hustle a lot more."

The talented women’s team has been plagued all season
by injuries, but Brumfield says she is "very confident"
about their postseason possibilities. "All the
pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together,"
she says.

Brumfield encourages faculty, staff and students
to attend the team’s remaining games and says fan support
boosts team morale.

Sunday, Feb. 21, is "Take A Girl to a Game"
day. Kids are admitted at a two-for-one rate for the
1 p.m. game against Tulsa. Houston Comet Kim Perrot
will speak at halftime, and an interactive fan festival
will follow the game.

A packed house would be especially appreciated for
the last regular season game, against SMU at 2 p.m.,
Saturday, Feb. 27. One dollar advance tickets are available
for the "Jam the Gym" event by calling Colette
Weiser in the athletic marketing department at (713)
520-0733.