Ashley’s Rivers continuing her road to stardom
WILMINGTON, N.C. (BVM) — When Hurricane Florence struck Wilmington in September of 2018, havoc was caused. Companies were crashed to the ground and families were displaced from their homes. Saniya Rivers and family were one of those, and moved into the Eugene Ashley school district shortly after. Head coach Adrienne Gale and the Screaming Eagles were getting one of the best girls basketball players in the nation.
“For us, it was enthusiasm and joy, and you know, unbelievable disbelief that this was happening,” Gale said. “I coached against her for two years so I knew who she was, of course, and what kind of player she was.”
The transition was seamless as the girls welcomed her to the team as though she’d been there forever. They let her take over the alpha role and propel their team to new heights. Rivers fit in immediately, and now following her senior season, has been named the Gatorade North Carolina Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
“Pure amazement,” Gale said of Rivers. “Sometimes you stop coaching and start watching because you’re in awe of the things she can do on the court. I was like that when I was coaching against her, let alone coaching her.”
Gale’s review of Rivers’ game is no exaggeration as the 6-foot-1 guard provided numbers for her team this season unheard of across the country. The senior averaged an opponent-terrifying 36.8 points per night to go along with 11.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 5.3 (!) steals. All of that while sometimes focusing a bit too much on her teammates or even, her opponent.
“What makes her unique and special is her heart,” Gale said. “She’s very unselfish, she’d rather sometimes dish the ball and make a teammate feel good and important instead of worrying about her stats; she’s even willing to be the perfect opponent. She’s competitive but she doesn’t want to leave a bad impression on anyone either.”
Gale recalls a regular season matchup where in the first quarter, Rivers went out of her way to help an opponent off the floor. Despite Gale’s attempts to tell her star player to get back on defense and not worry about the other team, Rivers carried on, making sure her sportsmanship showed. In another signature Rivers moment, the team was honoring a former teammate who passed away, and Gale was choked up, struggling to get through the speech. Rivers was the first one at her side, consoling her coach as she tried to properly honor their lost teammate.
Her heart of gold outshines even the most beautiful box scores.
“She doesn’t have an ego,” Gale said. “She cares about everybody.”
But, of course, Rivers cares about her own progression as well and that’s why she will be attending the University of South Carolina in the fall, joining legendary coach Dawn Staley and the rest of the Gamecocks. Staley has played and coached at the collegiate, professional and national team levels, being considered one of the best players and coaches to ever do it. If there’s anybody that can get Rivers to the promised land, it’s Staley.
“I think she (Rivers) believed in the coaches and the program and what they could do in the future,” Gale said. “I hate that I couldn’t win a championship for her so I know another dream of her’s would be to win a national championship and I know she has a chance to do that there.”
With a truly endless ceiling, Rivers picked the right place to be. Aspiring to accomplish all of the same accolades that Staley once did, there couldn’t have been a better fit. Learning from someone with those lived experiences will go a long way in her development, which has already gotten off to a blazing start in the prep ranks.
