Taylor Baudoin’s dream wasn’t to be an OK player.
For as long as Baudoin could remember, the vision of her future included Division I basketball.
Baudoin wasn’t sure where she was going to wind up, but she knew she was willing to invest the hard work and extra effort it was going to take to get her there.
A foot injury in her junior year at New Hope High School put those hopes on hold. The injury also nearly killed Baudoin’s dream.
“I thought it was over,” Baudoin said of her aspirations to play basketball in college. “I thought it was going to end my senior year. I thought I was going to be mediocre, an OK kind of player.”
Nearly three years later, Baudoin can smile because now she knows her dream was merely deferred.
Today, Baudoin plans to change that when she signs a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for the University of Central Arkansas. Earlier this week, Baudoin, who recently earned NJCAA Division I honorable mention All-America honors as a freshman at Jones County Junior College, gave a verbal commitment to UCA coach Sandra Rushing.
“It really hasn’t (sunk in),” Baudoin said Wednesday. “It is amazing. God has blessed me with this amazing opportunity to go play Division I basketball. It is just humbling. I know I have worked hard, but it is all God.”
Baudoin, a 6-foot forward, averaged 18.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 2.6 steals per game to help JCJC reach the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior College tournament semifinals and the Region 23 tournament title game this past season.
Baudoin shot 52 percent from the field, 33 percent from 3-point range, and 77 percent from the free-throw line. She was named the NJCAA Division I Player of the Week on Feb. 11, and twice was named MACJC Player of the Week (Nov. 28, Feb. 10).
JCJC coach Sandra Sumrall said she knew Baudoin had potential when she recruited her. Prior to the season, she made it clear to Baudoin that the Lady Bobcats needed her to be their “go-to player.” If that sounds like a tall order for a freshman, Sumrall knew Baudoin would be able to handle that responsibility.
“She reminded me of a UConn player,” Sumrall said, referring to an individual in a program that has won a record 10 national titles. “She does it all. She shoots from the inside and outside. She can take you off the dribble and pull up and shoot. She has the ability to be where she needs to be whenever and she reads the court so well. She had all of those things. She just put it all together. Her best days are ahead of her. She is good, but she is going to be even better.”
But Baudoin said Wednesday that the foot injury that forced her to miss nearly all of her junior season sapped her confidence and made her question whether she would be able to get back to being the player she used to be. Baudoin admitted she thought her foot was “torn up,” but she still returned to the court for the Lady Trojans’ final two games before the district tournament. She then played in the district and North State tournaments. Even though she was back, New Hope High girls basketball coach Laura Lee Holman could tell something was different.
“I could tell she didn’t trust it,” Holman said. “If you knew her foot was broken and you saw her play before, there was not a change in effort, but she was not taking shots she probably would have — more aggressive shots.”
Holman said she saw Baudoin regain her some of her confidence playing Amateur Athletic Union basketball in the summer before her senior year. Once the high school team’s preseason started, Holman said the Lady Trojans worked as hard as they ever have in the weight room, did agility and jump rope exercises, and anything she could think of to help get Baudoin back on her foot.
As time progressed, Holman said she saw Baudoin learn to trust her foot again and realize she was going to be OK no matter how hard she came down on it.
Baudoin’s statistics as a senior — 12.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.0 steals, 2.2 assists per game — reflected a rediscovered confidence that helped her earn an opportunity in April 2014 to play basketball at JCJC. Baudoin said at the time that her goal was to play Division I basketball.
Today, she will take a confident step closer to that goal knowing she has worked hard, and that she will need to work even harder in the years to come.
“I didn’t expect it,” Baudoin said. “I knew I was a pretty good player, which is why I am in college now playing basketball. I didn’t imagine being an honorable mention All-American. That is pretty cool. To have people notice how hard I have worked, and, in a way, congratulate me in that hard work, it is humbling. To know I can get better in my next three years is amazing.”
Baudoin said she hadn’t planned how long she was going to stay at JCJC. She said she anticipated returning for her sophomore season until she learned Rushing and UCA were interested in her. She said she started receiving phone calls from members of the coaching staff early in March. She said she visited the campus in Conway, Arkansas, with her father, Bruce, the weekend of April 10. She said the trip made an immediate impression on her.
“I fell in love with Central Arkansas,” Baudoin said. “I couldn’t pass it up.”
Still, Baudoin took another visit to Northwestern State. But the trip to UCA had convinced Baudoin that was where she was supposed to be.
“I really enjoyed the players … and really liked their attitudes,” Baudoin said. “The way they were fit with my personality. They also have a really good psychology program. That was important because education is a big thing to me.”
Baudoin, who is considering a career in counseling or in sports psychology, said she returned to Lafayette, Louisiana, where her parents live, and told them she was going to UCA. She then called Rushing to let her know Conway was the place she would realize her dream.
When Baudoin arrives, she will be reunited with Maggie Proffitt, a former standout at Columbus High and Starkville Academy. Baudoin said she and Proffitt played together on an AAU team when they were 9 or 10 years old. She said they drifted apart after they went to different schools — Baudoin went to Columbus Christian Academy, which used to be known as Immanuel Christian, before transferring to New Hope High — so it will be “kind of weird” getting a chance to play with Proffitt again.
Holman is looking forward to watching Baudoin play at the next level. She isn’t sure how she is going to make the five-plus hour drive to Conway, but she believes she will find a way to get there to see Baudoin realize her dream.
“The year at Jones gave her even more confidence,” Holman said. “On my team, we had four or five kids on the court that could score, so she was sharing points with DJ (Sanders), Moe(sha Calmes), and Kaitlin (Bradley). I really feel at Jones she took control of her role as a go-to scorer and that helped her refine her game and elevate to that next level.
“In the back of my mind, it is kind of like her senior year in high school. She kind of got robbed that junior year. It kind of made me sick thinking about it that way, but I watched a game (on Feb. 5) she put up 38 points and almost single-handedly took down (nationally ranked Copiah-Lincoln C.C.). It was very, very impressive. I am so excited. I know she had to make a pit stop at Jones, but I am so proud of her and so excited she is getting an opportunity to live out her dream.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
