The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Rachael Childress Tabbed Conference USA Freshman of the Year
3/6/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
IRVING, Texas - UAB women's basketball's forward Rachael Childress continues to add to her accolades as she has been chosen as Conference USA's Freshman of the Year, as voted on by the league's head coaches and media voters, the league office announced Monday.
"Rachael is a coach's kid that lives in the gym and knows what it takes to be a winner," head coach Randy Norton said. "She stays late, gets there early and this accolade is a product of the work she puts in day in and day out. She is a great teammate that wants success more for her team than anything else.
"She did not break into the starting lineup until the ninth game of the season, but you would have never seen a difference in her work ethic, attitude, or positive energy from the first day of practice to today," Norton added. "Rachael is what UAB women's basketball is about. She does her best in everything, always does what is right and treats others the way she would want to be treated."
Childress, who was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team yesterday, is the fourth Blazer to be named Conference USA's Freshman of the Year. She joins the elite company of Deanna Jackson (1998-99), Michelle Smith (1999-00), and Jala Harris (2009-10).
In one way, you could say that UAB freshman Rachael Childress is working her way through her first season of college basketball three points at a time.
The Lawrence County High product has not only established herself as one of the top long-range shooters in Conference USA, but also leads nation's freshmen in 3-pointers per contest. She set a UAB freshman record with seven 3-pointers in a win over Marshall and has at least one 3-pointer in each of her 21 starts.
The success comes because of hard work and it began long before she stepped onto the UAB campus.
Rachael and her older brother, Jesse, spent countless hours playing basketball on the court at their house. Their father, Shane, who is the head boys' basketball coach at Lawrence County High, would join them for 3-point shooting contests. At times, their mother, Kelley, who played in high school and junior college, joined the game.
"It was competitive, my dad is not one to lose," Childress said with a laugh. "He won most of the time. (It was) probably 8th or 9th grade, when it started getting even. My brother could shoot really well, too."
Actually, those backyard shooting contests were just a start. Rachael would tag along with her father to practice. She would shoot before and during practice, often hoisting up over a 100 shots with her father afterwards. Eventually, she got her own key to the gym and would get in some practice whenever she found time.
The results of all the hard work stand out, according to UAB head coach Randy Norton.
"You could tell, by the way she shot the ball, that she's someone who lives in the gym," Norton said of his early impressions of Childress. "She's got great shooting mechanics. In AAU, I've seen her make 10 in a row and in other games I saw her maybe miss 10 in a row and it never fazed her. She just kept playing hard and being an outstanding teammate. She's one of those kids, when she's off, she can shoot herself into making shots. That's a shooters mentality."
Childress hoisted a lot of shots and logged a lot of minutes for Lawrence County High. She began her varsity career as a seventh grader and grew into a three-time All-State performer. Norton and his coaching staff first spotted Childress on the AAU circuit. During her junior season, Norton and associate head coach Taren Martin traveled to watch Childress play in a Lawrence County High game on the night she scored 35 points. On the way home, he phoned Childress and offered her a scholarship. Soon afterward, she made the early and solid commitment.
"I remember talking to my dad about taking the pressure off my senior year by committing early," Childress said. "My last year of AAU, I could just play and it would be fun. I had a couple of other places, but I knew. Knowing I was going to come here, made it so much fun."
Admittedly, Childress, who is one of seven true freshmen on the UAB roster, didn't know what to expect from her first college season. Adjusting to the next level came with many bumps, some of which started about the same time she stepped on campus.
"It's just so physical," Childress said. "You have to be locked in every play. If you're not, you're going to get scored on or you're going to do something wrong. When I first came out in the summer, I would be open but by the time I was ready to shoot, someone would be up on me. Just getting used to getting your feet set quicker and knowing when you're open, I think, is something I've gotten a lot better at that."
It was nine games into the season before she earned her first start. She responded by scoring a team-best 17 points, including four 3-pointers, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out five assists while playing 39 minutes in a 81-77 non-conference victory over Troy.
Welcome to being a permanent fixture in the starting lineup.
"In the non-conference season, we were bringing her off the bench and she was maybe playing 15 to 20 minutes," Norton said. "She was playing real solid but not like she is now. We could just see her improvement in practice and games. As we got closer to the conference season, her improvement made it a no brainer that she deserved to be in the starting lineup."
Childress solidified herself as a candidate for C-USA Freshman of the Year and All-C-USA Freshman honors. She is a four-time C-USA Freshman of the Week selection and the lone freshman in the league to currently lead her team in scoring.
She averages 12.6 points per game overall and 14.7 points in C-USA play. She hits a national freshman best 3.1 3-pointers per game, and ranks fourth nationally among freshmen in 3-point field goal percentage at 41 percent. She is also already making a dent on the UAB record book with her 90 3-pointers, which currently places her in second place in that category.
"I think any time a freshman comes in and does what she's doing, yeah, you're pleasantly surprised," Norton said. "I knew she'd be good, I didn't know she'd be able to play at this high of a level this early. It's a credit to her teammates, who look to get her the ball and set screens for her. Really, it's just her work ethic. On top of our practices, she'll be in the gym maybe two other times a day. She might come in morning and get her shots up, she'll come back at night to get her shots up. She understands the importance of if you're going to be a shooter, you got to put in the time."
She also understands the importance of being on a well-rounded team. Part of the reason that the 5-foot-10 Childress gets quality looks is that the Blazers have another outstanding long-range shooter in sophomore Deanna Kuzmanic, who had 74 3-pointers as a freshman and 57 thus far this season, and plenty of other offensive options.
Superlative Awards
Player of the Year: Jennie Simms, Old Dominion
Freshman of the Year: Rachael Childress, UAB
Defensive Player of the Year: Brittanny Dinkins, Southern Miss
Newcomer of the Year: Loryn Goodwin, UTSA
Sixth Player of the Year: Gabby Lyon, Middle Tennessee
Coach of the Year: Joye Lee-McNelis, Southern Miss
C-USA Coaches Circle
Brooke Stoehr, Louisiana Tech
Rick Insell, Middle Tennessee
Michelle Clark-Heard, WKU
CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT
The ninth-seeded Blazers are slated to return to the court for the Conference USA Tournament first round games on Wednesday, March 8 at 12:30. UAB will face No. 8 North Texas at Bartow Arena.
Single session tickets are available online or at the Bartow Arena Box Office Monday morning and are $10 per day for Wednesday and Thursday. Tickets for the semifinals and finals, held at Legacy Arena on Friday and Saturday, are $20 per session.
All session tickets, which include the men's games, are still available through UABSports.com, or through the Bartow Arena Ticket Office.
For more information on UAB women's basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_WBB), Instagram (@UAB_WBBALL) and Facebook (UAB Women's Basketball).
