Alongside sisters, Martinsville’s Pa’Shence Walker leads the way for Artesians’ girls basketball
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (BVM) — Pa’Shence Walker comes from a family that has quite the basketball background. And over the last few years, she has made a name for herself as a leader of the Martinsville High School girls basketball program.
As a senior this season, Walker enjoyed some of her fondest memories on the basketball court. She impressively averaged 18.8 points per game for the Artesians, and had some standout performances, highlighted by 33 and 37-point outings.
But perhaps her best accomplishment was when she joined the 1,000-point scoring club in January.
“It was pretty special,” Walker said. “It was our last home game and I wanted to get my 1,000th point at home. I needed to score 33 points and I scored exactly 33 points so that moment was very special.”
However, just weeks later, the Artesians’ season would come to a heartbreaking end in a double-overtime loss in sectionals. Making two free throws at the end of regulation with no time left on the clock to send the game to an extra period, Walker believed Martinsville was destined to win. But unfortunately, that was not the case.
“It was tough,” Walker explained. “I don’t think we went into the game mentally ready and we just thought we were going to win. At the end of the day, you can’t blame anyone else. It was heartbreaking.”
Perhaps making the moment even tougher is the uncertainty of her future on the hardwood. As of right now, Walker has received some interest from some DII schools like the University of South Carolina Aiken, as well as numerous junior colleges. She has also been offered by schools such as Trine University, Indiana University Kokomo, Purdue University Fort Wayne, Eastern Florida, Jacksonville University and Cumberland University.
While she awaits the right offer to continue her career, Walker is prepared to give it her all for whoever she plays for, and knows she can bring a lot to the table with any program.
“I’m very coachable, I’m always open to learning new positions, I’m a good role model and I just like to learn more and more about basketball,” Walker said. “My goal is to find the place right for me, that place that feels like family and feels like home.”
If there’s any doubts about Walker’s future, look no further than her family background in the sport. Her mom, Danielle Traylor, was a former college player at Wabash Community College and had signed a letter of intent to continue her career at LSU.
Having Danielle be able to teach her the game has been a big benefit for Pa’Shence.
“I’m very fortunate that my mom was able to teach us the game of basketball,” Pa’Shence said. “She knows so much about the game and I’m just very thankful to have her by my side.”
Meanwhile, her aunt, April Traylor-Percy, was a two-time state champion in high school at Martinsville who long held the school’s all-time scoring record. She went on to play college ball at Florida State where she continued her standout career.
But perhaps the person in the family Pa’Shence has looked up to most over the years is her older sister, Kayana Traylor. Kayana was a star at Martinsville High School where she broke her aunt’s long-standing all-time scoring record in 2018. Now, Kayana is starring on the court for the Purdue Boilermakers, averaging nearly 15 points per game as a junior.
“Honestly, I’ve looked up to my mom, my aunt, and mainly my older sister Kayana,” Pa’Shence said. “Kayana has always been my role model. We’ve always been close and when we were younger I remember going outside and playing one-on-one. She was always better than me at offense, but I think I was always better than her on defense. She’s amazing and I’ve just always looked up to her.”
During her time as a guard at Martinsville, Pa’Shence has become a leader, but also someone that the younger players on the team can look up to. Two of those players include Pa’Shence’s younger sisters, Ashlyn and Adelyn, who have all had the opportunity to grow together in this basketball family.
“We all used to play against each other and were all competitive and made each other better,” Pa’Shence said. “One summer we all went to Florida and trained with my aunt. It’s just been really special and fun, and I’m just so grateful that I grew up in a basketball family.”
When the girls first started playing basketball, Pa’Shence was involved with several other sports including track, softball, volleyball and cheer. But running in the family bloodlines, basketball became her biggest passion.
“When we were younger, my mom always had a basketball in our hands,” Pa’Shence said. “It just stuck since we were little.”
By seventh grade, Pa’Shence realized not only her passion for basketball, but also her talent on the court, as she helped lead her middle school team to back-to-back conference championships. As she entered into her career at Martinsville High School, the potential she had was no secret.
Although she received limited playing time as a freshman with Kayana and several upperclassmen on the team, Pa’Shence still flashed the potential of her bright future.
“It was a big transition for me because I went from starting and playing the whole game in middle school,” Pa’Shence said. “When I got to high school, the 2018 class was very talented and I didn’t play as much. I played a couple games with my sister and the team was very good.”
Pa’Shence began receiving more minutes down the stretch of the postseason in her freshman year, setting the stage for a spectacular final three seasons at Martinsville. By sophomore year, she was averaging over 12 points per game as one of the leaders for the Lady Artesians, and was named all-state honorable mention.
She would maintain a similar scoring average into her junior season, also improving on her per-game rebound and assist totals while becoming an all-state second-team player.
“Those past two years I had a lot of accomplishments and success,” Pa’Shence said. “Some of my biggest goals coming into my senior season were winning a conference championship and we completed that. I also really wanted to go far in tournament play.”
Although the Artesians did not go as far as Pa’Shence had hoped this season, the team improved throughout the year thanks to strong team chemistry. The senior guard also left the program with some impressive accomplishments.
A team captain as a junior and senior, Pa’Shence leaves Martinsville with over 1,000 points scored, over 400 rebounds and over 300 assists — good for a top-10 program mark. She also finished in the top-10 in scoring in program history, and the top-three in steals, including setting the single-season steal record.
A four-time letter winner and three-time team MVP on the court, Pa’Shence was also a star off the court at Martinsville with a 3.8 GPA.
Recently, Pa’Shence was named a Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association all-star for her play during the 2020-21 season, and as the campaign winds down, there could be more recognition to follow.
Having a few weeks to reflect on her career at Martinsville, Pa’Shence is proud of what she accomplished, and hopes she and her sisters have and will continue to leave a positive impact on the Artesians’ girls basketball program.
“I just hope we made a good name for ourselves,” Pa’Shence said. “I hope people look back and say, ‘Wow, those girls were so fun to watch.’ I’m just thankful we’ve had this opportunity and hope my sisters can still win a couple of championships while they’re here.”
Pa’Shence comes from an incredible basketball family, and what she has done over the years at Martinsville has just added to the legacy. Now, as she continues to wait for the right college offer to come along, we will wait to see not if, but when, she will do so yet again.
