Texas Tech University Athletics
Lady Raider Summer: Minta Spears
June 15, 2012 | Women's Basketball
June 15, 2012
LUBBOCK, Texas -- It's been a quick year for Minta Spears.
In fact if you ask the Texas Tech freshman, she's not even sure if high school is all the way finished.
"It still feels like I haven't even graduated since it went by so fast," she said.
But Spears is already in her second week of summer school in Lubbock, learning what it takes to be a Lady Raider and successfully balance school and sports as a student-athlete.
"It's really busy," Spears said. "I don't think some people understand that and just how busy it gets. You have workouts early in the mornings, class for four hours, tutors for two hours, and then if there's anything else you want or need to do, it's after that. It's really busy but it's really fun too."
It comes as no surprise that Spears appears calm and confident. The highly-touted recruit from Bullard, Texas not only exceeded on the court with a 33.7 points per game average while hitting 86 percent of her free throws, but also in the classroom as Bullard High School's Salutatorian.
But her actions on the court were more than noticeable around the country. Spears ended her career as the all-time leader in points (2,879), 3-pointers (375), assists (776) and rebounds (457) at Bullard, earning all-state selections by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, Texas Girls Coaches Association and was a 2012 PARADE Magazine All-American.
But Spears said she stays humbled by the recognition and prefers to stay focused on her future with the Lady Raiders and taking the program to another level while reaching her goals on and off the court. She will study media strategies in the College of Mass Communications and also plans on earning her master's degree at Tech as well.
And if you get a chance to watch her taking shooting drills with teammates or on her own, you begin to understand her work ethic.
"I'm a perfectionist when it comes to everything," she said. "Shooting drills, grades, everything. I don't like to mess up or be wrong. I do, obviously, but I try to fix it and be the best at everything that I can possibly be."
