Lady Wildcat roundballers Brown, Hutchinson sign college scholarships

By KEVIN CHIRI

Publisher

LAPLACE – The East St. John Lady Wildcat basketball program continues to get headlines, and it isn’t just because coach Troy Giordano has built one of the most successful programs in the area.

Just this week Giordano stood proudly by as two more of his players for the coming season signed college scholarships.

And it wasn’t just for their basketball prowess.

Gaynelle Brown, a 5-9 forward, signed with Bellhaven College in Jackson, Ms., and is currently ranked the number one academic student in the school with a 4.11 GPA.

Nikita Hutchinson, a 5-7 point guard, was ranked the number one point guard in the state by National Basketball Magazine, and she also is an outstanding scholar with a 3.2 GPA. She signed with the University of Houston.

“These are two really special girls,” Giordano said, beginning his 10th season with the Lady Wildcats. “Gaynelle is a great leader, very intelligent and will be a success at anything she tries to do with her life. Nikita is a young lady who has come a tremendous way athletically and in the classroom, and I would call her the most complete basketball player in the history of the school-boy or girl.”

Hutchinson was recruited by approximately 30 schools, including the likes of Memphis, New Mexico State and Miami among Division I schools.

She picked Houston since it was a campus where she felt she fit perfectly.

“The girls there just seemed like they were all like me. I felt real comfortable with the coach and it looks like I have a chance to play by my second year,” she said.

Hutchinson averaged 7.9 points, six assists and 2.7 steals a game last season, but more impressively, has been named the district’s defensive MVP for three years running.

“You seldom see someone with an all-around game like Nikita, but who is also a great defensive player,” Giordano pointed out.

Brown is an all-district returnee from last year who averaged seven points and six rebounds a game. Her scholarship is a combination athletic and academic.

“Ever since my sophomore year I thought I wanted to play college,” she said. “And I have been determined to get there. I’m just so blessed. I love school, and now I am the first person in my family who will graduate high school and get a scholarship.”

She plans to major in civil engineering and minor in accounting.

Both players had words of praise for the Lady Wildcat head coach, who clearly has a special bond with the East St. John players.

“Coach Giordano is like a father to us,” Brown remarked. “He has helped us in life, in school, and really to grow as a player and individual.”

Hutchinson echoed those words, saying “Coach Troy is one of the biggest reasons that I have this chance. Also, my two uncles Jerome Hutchinson and Garland Robertson. I always have played against them, and finally I beat one of them.”

The signees are the 10th and 11th college players that Giordano has produced with his program.

Nikita is the daughter of Jules and Lynette Hutchinson, and Gaynelle is the daughter of Gary Dukes and Loretta White.