Luther’s Wright lives dream
Maia Wright pestered Luther coach Johnny Vick twice a week awaiting a different answer.
Had he heard from the Oklahoma Coaches Association? Would she be headed to the All-State girls basketball game? If there was no message from the OCA, what did that mean?
Vick had to tell her to calm down.
“I’m like, ‘Coach, you don’t understand, this is an experience of a lifetime,’” Wright recalls.
In early June, the message finally came. Vick received a phone call with the invite to replace an injured player and committed Wright before he even sent her a text message.
He knew the answer. “It just means that everything I worked hard for is actually paying off,” Wright said. “I showed I did what I was supposed to do this season.”
Wright,a 5-foot-9 forward, suited up in a red West jersey for the small schools game Wednesday night at Oral Roberts’ Mabee Center, and she enjoyed every second of the experience.
She entered the game with 4:06 remaining in the first quarter and immediately scored eight points, including a nifty steal and layup in the open court and a 3-pointer.
It was reminiscent of the plays she made for Luther as a three-year starter.
Last winter, she averaged 16.6 points and 10.6 rebounds as Luther made the area tournament finals.
“I asked people when we were last in the area finals and nobody can remember,” Vick said. “In her five years, we’ve turned the program around.”
Wright is the younger sister of former Luther football star Maurice Wright. Watching him play in the All-State game a few years back was her motivation.
She began to hit the weight room more with Maurice, becoming a weight-room junkie. She tried to lift what he did. But she also noticed his desire to be the best. He never missed a workout the summer before his senior season.
“When I went to see him play, I realized this is what it takes to get to AllState,” Wright said. “You can’t complain about anything. You have to just do it.”
Wright now heads to Crowder College in Missouri knowing she played in a game that meant the world to her. She was also the school's first girl to play in the game in more than a decade.
“This is what I worked hard for, it’s what I wanted and now I’m getting it,” Wright said. “Now I’ve got to prove why I’m here.”