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Clarksville Academy guard commits to Mercer




Guard Syndeey Boykin handles the ball for Clarksville Academy. SUBMITTED/CARRIE DANIELS

Guard Syndeey Boykin handles the ball for Clarksville Academy. SUBMITTED/CARRIE DANIELS

Sydneey Boykin – a senior at Clarksville Academy and daughter of former Austin Peay State guard Terry Boykin – has committed to play college basketball at Mercer University.

“It was stressful not knowing where I wanted to go or knowing what I wanted out of a school,” Boykin said. “It took a minute for me to decide what I looked for in a school, and when I found Mercer – I guess Mercer found me – and I went and I visited, I instantly loved it. That’s exactly what I was looking for, and I didn’t even know what I was looking for. It was perfect.”

Boykin, a 5-foot-9 combo guard, led the Cougars to becoming a top-ranked team in the state as a junior, scoring 17 points per game and adding six rebounds, 4.3 steals and three assists per game.

“She plays both ends of the floor with equal intensity,” said Clarksville Academy coach Carrie Daniels. “Her specialty is on the defensive side. She loves playing defense and getting steals. She creates so much on the defensive side for herself and her teammates, and that creates offensive opportunities for us.”

Daniels coached at Austin Peay before joining the Cougars staff, giving Boykin a pair of mentors with college basketball experience.

Before committing to Mercer, Sydneey averaged 15 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 steals and two assists per game as a freshman. She ranked third in the state in steals and top 10 in Class A scoring, but she played through pain the entire season. Once she visited a doctor, it was revealed she had torn labrums in both hips and had a pair of surgeries to repair them. As a result, her sophomore season numbers dipped, but she was still awarded all-district honors for the second consecutive season.

“I think right now she’s truly getting back to 100 percent,” Daniels said. “She knows, we all know, with the depth of the injury and her surgery there’s going to be pain, but she’s found a way to deal with that and play through it. And with her to be able to score 1,000 points in her junior season after having to sit out a majority of her sophomore season, it shows a lot of her talents as well.”

Boykin looks to continue improving as an offensive threat, working mainly on her mid-range jump shot. She will do so while aiming to take her team further that they went last year, as the Cougars lost in the state quarterfinal.

“I’m just excited to play with my teammates,” Boykin said. “It’s my last year, senior year, supposed to be the best year, so I’m just excited to just play with my team all year, and I hope we get really far. I’m confident that we will.”

Boykin prepares to shoot a free throw in what became the 1,000th point of her career. SUBMITTED/CARRIE DANIELS

Boykin prepares to shoot a free throw in what became the 1,000th point of her career. SUBMITTED/CARRIE DANIELS

 

 

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