With her friends and family watching, senior, Jerzie Bryant signed her letter of intent to play basketball for the Oklahoma City University Stars. Bryant reflects on why she chose OCU over three other schools that gave her offers.

“When I stepped on campus I had that gut feeling like yeah this is the one,” Bryant said.

Bryant took her official visit to OCU in early September and she shared what that experience was like.

“[My official visit to OCU] was long,” she said. “There were a lot of meetings but it was fun. I got to hang out with the girls and they fed me a lot of food.”

She also shared how all the attention she got made her feel.

“At first I felt overwhelmed because there was so much happening at one time,” Bryant said. “But then I felt like I was at home.”

Bryant also got a chance to scrimmage with her future teammates, and she shared the differences that she saw between high school and college basketball.

“College ball is so much faster than high school,” she said. “Ten times faster, I thought I might die.”

Jerzie Bryant is known for being the leader of her high school team, and her teammate Taysie Trejo (12) thinks she will bring that leadership to OCU.

“Her leadership is really going to help OCU…” Trejo said.

Bryant holds many records at Heritage including all-time records in both career points and assists. But Bryant is already looking ahead to what she can accomplish in the future at OCU.

“I’m looking forward to chasing a ring,” she said. “They haven’t won it in three years and I’m trying to put 2023 up on a banner.”

Apart from on the court accolades, Bryant is also looking forward to her studies.

“[I’m also looking forward to] my major, mass communications,” Bryant said. “They have a broadcasting club that I’m going to be in.”

While there are a lot of things Bryant is looking forward to, there are still some things that she is nervous about. One of those things is how she is going to balance school and basketball.

“I don’t know how I’m going to balance it,” Bryant said. “I’m going to test the waters my freshmen year and if that doesn’t work, I’m going to try to do something different.”

She is also worried about making new friends.

“I don’t really do good meeting new people,” she said. “So I don’t know if I’m going to have friends.”

As far as friends go, Bryant feels like that is what she will miss the most about high school.

“[I’m going to miss] the people that I created bonds with,” she said.

Her friends and teammates are also going to miss some things about Bryant.

“[I’m going to miss] the energy she brings,” Trejo said.

Bryant took some time to reminisce about some of her best high school memories, including what she feels is her biggest accomplishment.

“[My biggest high school accomplishment] was scoring my 1,000 points,” she said. “I’m trying to get to 2,000. I’m capable of doing it, I’m going to try.”

Although Bryant is capable of hitting impressive milestones like these, she still had some bumps along the way.

“[I struggled with] being consistent,” Bryant said. “I wasn’t a very consistent person, and if I wanted to get where I am today I had to be consistent.”

Luckily, she had a great support system to keep her going.

“[My biggest supporters have been] my mom and dad, my brother, and my school teammates,” she said.

Many people are proud of how far Jerzie has come including the secretary to the assistant principal and Bryant’s mom, Tamara Bryant.

“I’m most proud of how she has developed her basketball IQ,” Bryant said. “Sometimes skill means nothing if you don’t know what to do with it, so I’ve enjoyed watching her basketball IQ develop.”

Ultimately Bryant’s path to playing college basketball was one filled with accomplishments, nerves, and supportive friends and family. There is no question that Bryant has left an impact on many peoples’ lives who are wishing her the best during the next part of her journey.

“Jerzie has had a major impact on my life,” Trejo said. “There’s nothing to describe Jerzie, it’s just Jerzie.”