This glittering sophomore is set to attend Georgia in two years.

Sparkle Davis' game more than lives up to her name, as she possesses a dazzling array of skills. The 5-10 sophomore guard for the Paideia School in Atlanta, Ga., is a great defensive player, strong ball-handler, and slasher to the hoop.

This season, Davis led the Paideia School to its best-ever record of 28-7, taking the team all the way to the Class AA state title game before falling to Greater Atlanta Christian. In the semi-finals, she poured in 22 points, scoring the last 12 points of the game and hitting the winning shot with 23 seconds left.

During the past season, Davis averaged 24 points, seven rebounds, five steals, and four assists per game, while scoring 37 points in one outing. Having already scored more than 1,000 points in her two-year high school career, she attributes her success to her attitude.

"My coach, Paul Meiere, and my dad say it's my demeanor on the court because I don't let things bother me," she says. "They say I don't show any reaction -- you can't tell if we are losing by 20 or winning by 20. I always give all that I have, no matter what the score is."

On carrying her team: "It have been fun sometimes and stressful at other times," says Davis. "I face a lot of box-and-one (defenses) and double teams. I know that I'm the leader and everybody feeds off me. I was very nervous in the state games because I put all the pressure on me to carry the team to the championship."

Still, she looks forward to making a difference in the game during crunch time. "I'm the leader of the team and I want to win at all costs," she says, "no matter if it's making the winning shot or making the pass to set up the winning shot or playing great defense."

Although she's only a sophomore, Davis has already decided to attend the University of Georgia, where the coaching staff has indicated an eventual recruiting interest. "I have always wanted to go to Georgia because of Coach Andy Landers and his style of coaching and his relationship with his players," she says. "Georgia has a great program and I would like one day to be like all the other great UGA players. Also, Georgia has many great degrees for me to choose from."

Davis, who cites Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes as her favorite players, is well aware that she has a lot of work to do before she gets to college. "I need to work on my outside shooting in getting more range on it and being more consistent," she says. "I need to put some weight on my 5'10" frame because I'm about 125 pounds and I need to get stronger so I can finish more of my shots to the hoop."

Sparkle was coached by her father, Jonathan Davis, on the Georgia Dream Team 16-and-under AAU team. He says she has been a great role model for her teammates. "She leads by example," he says. "She doesn't talk a lot, but she is always leading the team through all its drill work and always trying to encourage others."

Named a Street & Smith Honorable Mention All-American after her freshman season, Sparkle has been playing basketball for only a few years. "I was a cheerleader for a basketball team when I was 10 years old, but the next year I told my father that I wanted to be the one getting cheered for and I told him I wanted to play," she says. "Since he was a coach, he started working with me and pushing me to be the best I can. I told him that I wanted to be one of the best in the state and to go to college and play and then on to the WNBA. He let me know it was going to be a lot of hard work, so I have been doing dribble drills and shooting drills daily and playing against the toughest competition, either girls or guys, to help me achieve my goals."

"I want everybody to know that if you work hard it will pay off down the road," Sparkle continues. "My dad had me doing drills every day and people was wondering why I was always dribbling up and down the street. But now that has made me a better point guard and player. I didn't always understand why, and sometimes I even cried because I didn't understand, but now I do."

Article written by Gball Associate Editor Jim Catalano.

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