The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Brittany Winborne: Role Player to Dominant Inside Presence
2/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Brittany Winborne’s transformation from role player to one of the UAB women’s basketball team’s main options began long before the Blazers tipped off official practice prior to the 2015-16 season.
It began, in fact, with an offseason that included as much mental work as it did physical preparation; but the change wasn’t complete until a critical moment in preseason practice.
The moment began when Winborne, a 6-foot senior from Baltimore, received a pass deep in the paint with a clear shot at the basket. Instead of shooting, though, she quickly kicked the ball to a teammate outside the 3-point arc. UAB head coach Randy Norton promptly whistled the play dead.
“I just stopped practice,” Norton said. “I could tell the players were frustrated because the players had a ton of confidence in her. I just asked ‘How many players want Brittany to shoot when she gets the ball in the paint?’ Everybody raised their hand up. I said, ‘Brittany, everybody in this gym has confidence in you. You’ve got to have confidence in yourself.’ I feel like that was kind of a turning point for her. She’d never been in that position where her team had that much confidence in her, and the girls truly did.”
Winborne laughed when asked if she recalled the exchange.
“Oh, gosh, yes, I remember that,” Winborne said. “It just took me by surprise. I didn’t think he’d stop practice, but he did. I didn’t think I’d be a main scorer. When he told me to shoot, it kind of opened my eyes. If they want me to shoot, I will shoot it.”
Her willingness to accept the expanded role has helped Winborne transform into one of the top players in Conference USA. Heading into Saturday’s games, Winborne is the C-USA leader in rebounds (10.4 per game), offensive rebounds (4.3 per game) and field goal percentage (56.2 percent) and is tied for second with teammate Kayla Anderson in blocked shots per game (1.5). Winborne ranks 19th in the country in rebounds and, with 10.3 points per game, is averaging a double-double in 30 minutes per contest.
The numbers are more impressive when compared to a year ago. Winborne averaged 2.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 13 minutes per game as a junior. She shot 42 percent from the field and took just 22 free throws during the season. This year, she is 58-of-82 from the free-throw line. She had three double-double performances in her first three seasons and has 12 in 24 games this season.
“She’s just getting better and better,” Norton said. “She’s one of those players who has God-given talent but just hadn’t developed her skills. She’s just kind of come into her own this year; that’s kind of fun as a coach to see.”
Winborne came to UAB after being recruited by former head coach Audra Smith and her coaching staff. Winborne says the UAB coaches first spotted her at a summer tournament and Mother Nature helped out in the recruitment.
“There were only two schools away from home that recruited me, and that was UAB and Eastern Michigan,” Winborne said. “I didn’t want to stay home. There were a lot of schools close to home that recruited me, but I didn’t want to go to those. Eastern Michigan was too cold, so UAB was the warmest place and the farthest away. I hate (cold weather). I was looking to get out. I hate the snow; I hate all that.”
Winborne played just one season under the former staff before Norton took over the program.
“When we got here, her sophomore year, you could tell that she was blessed with a lot of athleticism and was extremely strong,” Norton said. “But I would describe her as raw. She’s still improving, to be honest with you; she still hasn’t maxed out. If she wanted to go play overseas or something, I think she could play as long as she wants to.”
For now, though, Winborne is content on finishing out her UAB career in style. The Blazers enters the home stretch in eighth place in the C-USA standings but are 1.5 games out of fourth place. UAB plays host to second-place Middle Tennessee on Sunday in a game that could go a long way toward helping the Blazers climb up the standings before hosting the C-USA Tournament at Bartow Arena.
Winborne has a clear understanding of her role the rest of the way.
“I do want to be the leading rebounder in the conference,” Winborne said. “I’m a pretty good rebounder, but I never thought I’d be one of the main scorers. Once I started scoring, I thought ‘OK, I can do this.’ Once that started coming, I knew I had to keep averaging a double-double for my team to keep having the best game and the best season.”
