In the days leading up to the McDonald’s All American Games in Chicago, USA TODAY High School Sports will be catching up with various players to talk about their experiences. In this entry, we talk to Texas signee Chasity Patterson, a 5-6 guard from North Shore (Houston). Patterson is ranked as the No. 4 player overall and the No. 1 point guard in the Class of 2017. She won the girls three-point shooting contest Monday night at the POWERADE JamFest.
McDonald’s All American guard Chasity Patterson (Photo: Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports)
It’s been an exciting week. On and off the court, it’s a lot of fun. You get to know people that you see around the country doing great things just like you are. For us all to be out here all together is creating a memory that you will carry on forever.
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Where we go to eat, there’s pictures of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving – Kyrie Irving’s my favorite player – and Candace Parker so just seeing all the greats that came through and just knowing they were once in my shoes, that’s a great feeling. They were McDonald’s All Americans, and when you see how far they got, it just gives hope to me, right off in my career.
In the players’ lounge, they have a lot of different stuff in there. It’s cool to get a chance to be just chilling, really sitting down and catching up with people. And I like the food. Actually, I love food. That’s the crazy thing! I’ll eat all day and not gain weight. I think that’s an advantage, though. I don’t want to gain too much weight.
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On Monday, the Ronald McDonald House was a great opportunity for me, just to reach out and have an impact on the kids’ lives, just make them smile and the sense of joy that you get. I got to meet a couple of the kids and they were excited to see us. To be able to do that for somebody, that was a great feeling.
Chasity Patterson poses with a trophy after winning the girls three-point contest (Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski, USA TODAY Sports)
Monday night at the JamFest, I was a little nervous playing on this big stage, but then I just had a prayer. I came out rough, and in the first rack, I didn’t hit any shots. My main thought was to just focus on the next shot and keep shooting. As I started going along and moving through the racks I started to hit them. And that just worked for me. I hit the last 10, so I was excited. I just thank God that I was able to win that. That was the goal coming up here, to win the three-point contest.
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As far as getting ready for the game, practice has been good. We’ve been working on a lot of guard play, doing a lot of pick-and-roll. We’re having fun and I get to work with my future teammate at Texas, Rellah Boothe.
I just want to have fun in the game Wednesday, but also be able to score and get my team involved. I want make sure my team does well, as well as myself. Everybody is really competitive, so it will be fun. But it’s going to be intense.