By STEVE CORNELIUS, CJ Sports Editor
Somerset — Southwestern senior Devin Fothergill will probably go down in history as one of the most dominant female high school soccer players for the Lady Warriors. Fothergill was part of a four-time district champion Lady Warrior team and her 130 goals are the most scored in the program’s history.
But it was basketball that the talented 5’10” point guard decided to continue playing, as Fothergill signed a letter-of-intent to play for Coach Ronny Fisher at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.
“Fothergill brings toughness and a great understanding of the game to our team,” Fisher said. “Despite being the all-time leading scorer at Southwestern, her greatest strength is the ability to pass the ball. She is a true coach on the floor who looks for the open teammate. She is the type of person who makes everyone around her better, and we are very fortunate to have her join our program.”
Fothergill is the all-time leader in career points and assists, and she helped lead the Lady Warriors to a district title in 2007-08. Fothergill is a three-time All-Pulaski County honoree and has been named to all-district and all-region teams back-to-back years. She was also a top-10 state finalist for the Wendy’s High School Heisman award.
“You have a lot a high school athletes who are two-sport athletes, but you don’t have a lot of athletes who excel at two sports like Devin does and can be as dominate in one sport as they are in the other,” Lady Warrior coach Tim Rice said. “To my knowledge, there is no other girl in the state who has scored 100 goals in soccer and a 1,000 points in basketball like Devin has. On top of all that, Devin has maintained a 4.0 GPA and that is a credit to her and her family.”
Fothergill ranks in the top-10 all-time goals scored in KHSAA soccer history and she is a four-time Commonwealth Journal Soccer Player of the Year. But basketball is Fothergill’s true love.
“I have always liked basketball better and I always have,” Fothergill stated. “I do enjoy playing soccer, but basketball has always been my favorite sport.”
“Making an early commitment to play basketball in college was something I wanted to do, so it would be easier to relax my senior season and not have to think about trying to choose a college while I was playing basketball,” Fothergill added.
For the past five years, Fothergill has been the catalyst on the Lady Warrior basketball team. Since her eighth-grade year, Fothergill has been driving to the basket and dishing off passes inside to help her Lady Warriors achieved unparalleled success.
“Devin is a five-year starter and she is just 17 points away from being the Lady Warriors’ all-time basketball scorer,” Rice said. “She is already the all-time Lady Warrior assist leader and she has played more varsity games than any other female player in school history. She has started every game during here career except for one game when she had a ankle injury.”
“I have been blessed with having a player like Devin for the whole time I have been here at Southwestern as a coach,” Rice said. “Devin has worked so hard since she has been here. She will come in early before school starts, she will stay late after practice, and she will come in on Saturdays and Sundays to work on her game.”
Fothergill has been a member of the Kentucky Xtreme AAU program where she was a catalyst in leading her team to the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Kentucky state AAU titles. In 2007, the Xtreme finished ninth in the nation at the AAU National Tournament.
Fothergill explained that Presbyterian College’s friendliness helped in her college choice.
“Presbyterian College really interested me with their basketball program,” Fothergill said. “The college is really personable and it seems like everybody knows each other there.”
“Leaving Southwestern will be tough and I know that Presbyterian College will be a big change for me as a student and an athlete,” Fothergill added. “It will be a great experience for me and I am excited.”
