The Duncan Banner

Local Sports

Related Photos

  • Michael Pineda

    Stevenson
January 4, 2009

Stevenson’s rededication to basketball pays off

senior balances hoops with

Michael Pineda

This past spring and summer, Duncan senior basketball player Dymond Stevenson rededicated herself to the sport of basketball. It was the type of commitment that she had not made to basketball since she was an eighth grader.

Of course, Stevenson’s life had changed a lot since she was in eighth grade. For most girls her age, time away from the basketball court is spent being young. For Stevenson, time away from the court has belonged to her 3-year-old daughter, Maliyah.

By every measure, Stevenson was a standout basketball player when she was in eighth grade and appeared poised for big things at the high school level. But after basketball, she became one of thousands of girls across the nation in the fact she became pregnant. At the age of 14. What followed would define who she is today, and it is remarkable.

“I’m so proud of myself and my family is proud of me too,” Stevenson said. “I’m still in basketball and I’m happy for that. It wouldn’t be possible without my family, without my team and without my coaches.

“A lot of girls my age would have dropped out of school if they would have got pregnant. I don’t know what I would feel and be like without her. It changed my life and I’m more mature. I had to grow up fast.”

Dropping out of school was the last thing on Stevenson’s mind when she began to deal with the reality that she would be a teenage mother in her first year of high school.

Stevenson was in the homebound program her freshman year until the week leading up to the birth of her daughter, which happened Nov. 19, 2005.

“I was shocked,” Stevenson said of her initial reaction. “I don’t regret what I did, because I would not have a little girl. She has been a joy.”

After giving birth to her daughter, Stevenson stayed at home through the rest of the semester and returned following the Christmas break. It was then that she rejoined the basketball team and her friends at school.

“It kind of felt awkward when I went back to school but I still had friends, they didn’t change,” Stevenson said. “I worked out at the end of my freshman year to try and get back into shape. That summer, I went to basketball camps, but I really didn’t commit.”

One area that Stevenson did commit to was her academics. She hit the books and made A’s and B’s while raising her daughter and playing sports. During her sophomore year, Stevenson began to play volleyball but gave it up the next year, choosing to work on basketball in the preseason as she made a push for more playing time.

“Volleyball wasn’t really for me,” Stevenson said. “In the offseason, I was able to get faster and stronger. If I wouldn’t have been in the offseason, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

“I’m really proud of myself. I really committed to the team from last year to this year and I am getting more playing time. I kept pushing myself to get back to where I was and it paid off.”

And where is Stevenson? A valuable player coming off the bench for an improved team that is 4-4 on the season. And she comes complete with her own personal cheering section of one.

“I hear her on-and-off calling my name,” Stevenson said. “Sometimes she catches me off-guard and it is hard to concentrate. I can tell by the way that she loves to cheer and dance.”

There was plenty of cheering and dancing this Christmas as Maliyah, who celebrated her third Christmas in a big way.

“Christmas was funny,” Stevenson said. “She woke up and said happy birthday when we went in the living room to open presents.

“She’s just spoiled, she got everything. She got an Ipod shuffle and I don’t even have an Ipod. It just made me happy to see her happy. This was the first year she was really able to get involved.”

After a trip to Biloxi, Miss., Stevenson was ready to get back in the gym and get back to work.

“I’m just glad to be back,” Stevenson said. “I didn’t want to be too bad out of shape. I was missing it and missing being with the team.”

While basketball has been a big part of her life, Stevenson is also looking forward to life after college where she plans on applying her 3.75 g.p.a. toward an education at the University of Central Oklahoma.

“It would be a good thing for me to go there,” Stevenson said. “My aunt and uncle live there and own a daycare.”

Until then, there is a basketball season to consider. And a blessing in the form of a 3-year-old bundle of joy. It wasn’t the life she expected, but it is the one that she can be proud of.

Text Only
Local Sports
  • Duncan, Comanche girls golf teams take state titles

    The Duncan Lady Demons shaved six strokes off their team score on the second day of the girls’ state golf tournament, breaking free from a tie with Bishop McGuinness to capture the class 5A state title by five strokes Thursday in Oklahoma City.

    May 3, 2012

  • Bond increased for less than clever citizen

    On second thought, Daniel Steven Sanchez might wish he’d not making a statement about relocating, during an arrest early last week.

    February 19, 2012

  • Marlow man is arrested for warning shot at paper carrier

    A newspaper carrier discovered the job could be more hazardous than expected, when a gun was fired in his direction while he was distributing.

    January 27, 2012

  • Headed to Indy

    Hey, Indianapolis. A Manning will be playing in your Super Bowl, after all.

    No, not that one.

    It'll be Eli Manning leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl XLVI rematch against the New England Patriots — and this time on older brother Peyton's home field.

    "It doesn't matter to me where you're playing it or the fact that it's in Indianapolis," Eli Manning said. "I'm just excited about being in one."

    January 23, 2012

  • Tide rolls to top; Pokes remain No. 3

    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Alabama's convincing victory in the BCS championship wasn't enough to convince all 60 Associated Press college football poll voters that the Crimson Tide is No. 1.
    Four members of the media panel had Oklahoma State at No. 1, and Erik Gee, of KNML-AM in Albuquerque, N.M., picked LSU — as he said he would before the game.

    January 10, 2012

  • New look BCS in making

    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Bowl Championship Series as college football fans have come to know it is going away. Over the next six months, the people who oversee the much-maligned postseason format will talk about how to reconstruct the system for crowning a national champion. In the tumultuous 14-year history of the BCS, the appetite for change among college football's leaders has never been stronger.

    January 9, 2012

  • While Lewis exits, Jones and Norvell stay

    Oklahoma’s Big 12 and national championship hopes received a boost and a blow on Thursday. Quarterback Landry Jones announced he will return for his senior season, but defensive end Ronnell Lewis has decided to leave. Also Thursday, receivers coach Jay Norvell announced he was remaining with the Sooners.

    January 5, 2012

  • Tiki takes care of business

    For nearly an hour Saturday, people in the stands at the Stephens County Fair & Expo arena were cheering intently — to watch a cow answer the call of Nature.

    December 18, 2011

  • Blackmon first-team All-American

    NEW YORK  — Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon was a repeat first-team selection  on the Associated Press All-America football team announced on Wednesday.
    Blackmon, a two-time Biletnikoff Award winner as the nation’s top receiver, caught 113 passes for 1,336 yards and 15 touchdowns. The Cowboys, ranked No. 3 in the final AP poll as well as the BCS standings, tied No. 2 Alabama with six selections each. Alabama had the most first-teamers with four.
    Also for OSU, safety Markelle Martin was a second-teamer and tackle Levy Adcock, center Grant Garner, kicker Quinn Sharp and cornerback Brodrick Brown made the third team.
    Oklahoma had three named — wide receiver Ryan Broyles and defensive end Frank Alexander to the second team and guard Gabe Ikard to the third team.

    December 15, 2011

  • Sophomore Brennan DeHart came in second in the boys 100 freestyle event Monday in Harrah Splash down

    After a successful meet against Altus and Mustang last week, the Duncan High swimming team was back in action Monday afternoon in Harrah, competing against Tuttle and Oklahoma Christian.

    December 15, 2011 1 Photo