The Pirate Sports report kicks off with a PSC women's basketball star from Crestview who will grab your attention.

Katie Casey brings the skills, attitude and an impressive family history.

I like this.

Cartier Casey took up basketball as a youngster, but it wasn't until she watched a game, a Gulf Coast State College, that she realized the amazing hoops legacy in her house.

I see my mom in the Hall of Fame there and it's like, oh, well, she always talks about being big.

So now I actually see that she was actually really good.

Tionda Williams was the first all-American for Gulf Coast, won the National Junior College Player of the Year award in 1998 and went on to play in the SCC at Alabama.

As young Katiya started to excel, advice from Mom helped her navigate the path.

In middle school.

It was a little difficult because I was definitely the best player on the team.

I knew a lot of people were young, like a lot of girls hadn't played before.

She taught me like, sometimes you got to be a leader and you got to lead.

You know what everyone else is supposed to do?

So like help them out.

With Mom jumping in as an assistant coach, Katia shined at Crestview High School, scoring over 1000 career points.

As a sophomore, she attended a camp at Pensacola State and caught the coach's eye in a number of ways.

The first thing that stood out, obviously, was her hair.

You know, it was different.

You know, you just don't see that with a lot of high school students.

But then the next part was just how tough and feisty she was.

I think she may have been the only kid there that took a chance.

When you see someone who who's willing to do that and just puts their body on the line like, you know, that kid has a little bit of toughness and.

Grit, Katiya ended up signing with PSC and as a freshman, that toughness paid immediate dividends.

But she also found out just how challenging the junior college level is.

I realized that it's not the same as high school and high school.

You can get away with a lot of things just being quick and you cannot get away with the same things here.

I had to definitely adjust, get more time in the gym to like adjust to shooting and driving and passing and just get to know my teammates and knowing what they can do.

She elevated her game impressively as a sophomore, almost doubling the scoring output with around ten points a game topping the team in three point shooting and among the leaders in steals and assists.

But her biggest impact goes beyond the stats.

A willingness to do all the little things and an off the charts basketball IQ.

There's a lot of times where there's certain things I don't have to say because she will say them before I can relay messages to her teammates, you know, things that she sees on the court.

I think all of her teammates know they need anything.

They can rely on her.

I think a lot of them know if there's a question that they don't want to ask the coaches, they'll ask her because she'll ask or she'll already know.

Nobody's ever, like, perfect, but for like, it's always perfect.

She always has it together.

Like, that's why she's like, one of the best leaders on this team.

She she leads me even though we're in seventh grade.

She always knows what's going on.

She's never confused.

She never is angry at anybody.

She says the right things like, Because I is the best.

It should not be a surprise that Katiya excels in the classroom as well at Crestview, all four years on honor roll.

Graduating magna cum laude.

And now Dean's list at PSC.

I'm always trying to do my work early because I know that if I procrastinate, you know, it could be going wrong, you know?

So I make sure I do everything early and I'm just on track and I'm always taking notes of what I need to do and just trying everything.

Down the same thoroughness that fuels her success on the court.

Impressive to anyone who's watching, especially her all-American mom.

She talks to me a lot about how proud she is.

She says she used to watch my old games and then, like watching me now, it's so much different.

How much more confident, she says, that I've always had this pushing me.

Now she could tell that I'm going to be a great player.

We turn to men's basketball for Meet the Pirates.

It's a series of interview questions to help us get to know a PSC standout athlete.

Dmitri Clark is a 16 sophomore center from Geneva, Switzerland.

So, Dmitri, you're a long way from home.

What are some of the biggest differences between life in Switzerland and life here in Pensacola?

I'm going to say like the difference between Switzerland and Freud.

I'm going to say like a winner.

He's more like, cool over there.

Switzerland, definitely.

You decided to come to the States for basketball.

You went to a prep school in Arizona for a year.

What made you decide to come to America for basketball?

Because I think like basketball in America, you get more exposure.

In Switzerland.

When you were choosing college, you ended up here at Pensacola State.

So what was it about Pensacola State that this was the place you wanted to go?

So I got my coach from Prep and you tell me like it's the best place for me going to be Pensacola State to go to the next level after.

And I decided to follow him.

And he guys in the NBA that you like to watch that you try to pattern after or emulate.

I like LeBron James try and beat that.

My favorite player is going to be Giannis Antetokounmpo.

I like this guy.

All the Greek freak's also a guy from Europe that came over here and is doing great things about away from the court.

Any any hobbies?

What kind of things are you into?

I like the video game.

Well, video games you get a uh.

I play Fortnite.

Well, good luck to you.

Thanks so much.

Appreciate it.

All right, let's meet the Pirates with Dimitri Clarke.

We cap off the pirate sports report with a couple of very worthy plays of the month.

Women's basketball against the polar Nautica Bui forces the turnover and gets the pass.

Look, a tire.

Casey takes it strong on the break is fouled and hits the acrobatic layup.

Our freshman guard from Panama City boogie with a fancy three point play the hard way producing a finish to remember to men's basketball also against DePaul on a marion Savage steps in front of the pass for a steal.

Savage elevates for the monster one hand slam.

A sophomore guard from Illinois savage with an emphatic throwdown to fire up the crowd and earn a spot on plays of the month.