FORT MILL – The all-time leading girls basketball scorer at Nation Ford has made her college choice.
Kelci Adams, 17, will be playing college basketball at UNC-Pembroke. Adams chose the school located in Pembroke, NC, about a two and a half hour drive east of Fort Mill. She picked the college over Mars Hill University, near Ashville, NC and Barton College, in Wilson, NC.
“I had a lot of interest,” she said. “But none of them pulled the trigger.”
Adams said she chose UNC-Pembroke because of the feel the school had.
“The coaching staff and the atmosphere felt like family,” she said.
UNC-Pembroke finished 11-17 overall in 2019-2020 and was 6-14 in the Peach Belt Conference. The Peach Belt Conference includes teams from both North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, including USC-Aiken, Francis Marion University and Lander University. Adams plans on majoring in sports psychology.
Adams leaves Nation Ford as the school’s all-time girls scoring leader with 1,405-points on her career. A four-year varsity player, Adams had always been known as a scoring threat, even as a freshman.
But being a freshman once again in college, her job will still be the same – to score, she said.
“They told me they need someone to put the ball in the hole,” she said.
UNC-Pembroke averaged 58 points a game last season, while giving up 61 points a game. They shot 37 percent from the field as a team and even less than that from behind 3-point range at 29 percent.
Adams will play the two guard on the court and could look to contribute right out of the gate. She said she will miss basketball at Nation Ford the most and said her senior year meant a lot under first year coach Coretta Richmond.
“I think we did good for what we had and having a new coach,” Adams said. “We did well working with Coach Richmond. She did a good job in meshing us all together.”
Richmond said Adams will be missed on the court and will always be remembered, although they were together for just a season.
“UNC-Pembroke has recruited a gem when they signed Kelci,” Richmond said. “She is a scholar student and an outstanding athlete. Kelci will do well at UNC-Pembroke under Coach John Haskins who is a great person and a strong, successful coach. Many blessings and success to Kelci as she embarks in another chapter as a collegiate student-athlete.”
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
