Royals Athlete of the Week: Senior Myneshia Walker among top shooting guards in the ODAC

2018 Feb 7

Senior Myneshia Walker (Freeman, Va./Brunswick) is known for being consistent and a humble leader for the EMU women's basketball team.

She is also known as one of the best shooting guards in ODAC, with a field goal percentage at 40.4%. In last Saturday's game against Emory & Henry, Walker poured in a season high 27 points, including a stretch in the fourth quarter where she scored 15 of EMU's 17 points.

Even though the women lost to Emory & Henry, Walker said that the game was "one of the best games that we have played, we just came up a little short. But there is no other team I would want to go to war with than these ladies. I love my team."

However, her final season at EMU has been met with its share of obstacles. On the third day of practice, she injured her leg, costing her to miss the first five games of the season.

"It definitely hurt her and slowed her down to start the season and impacted us and who we were and what we were trying to do," explained Coach Kevin Griffin, "but it has not changed the way she has played once she got healthy."

Walker says the toughest part of recovering was catching up with her teammates. "Physically I was behind everybody for a whole month. Mentally I was scared I was going to get reinjured and sometimes it still does cross my mind. I want to finish out my basketball career here at EMU on a good note."

As one of two seniors on the team, Walker is a leader among her teammates. "I see myself as a good leader on and off the floor and I feel that my team respects me a lot, but I also know when it's better for the group for me to follow along," she said.

Coach Griffin would agree. "She leads by example, she works hard daily and is a visible portrayal of what it means to be consistent," he said. "I think a special quality that she brings is that she has been able to show why she is a valuable player, but leads in such a quiet and humble way. Nesh has never wanted any of this: the team, the success, point or rebounds, awards, she has never wanted it to be about her. She just shows and does her part, and for that we cannot thank her enough. She has made a huge impact on our women's team and our program."

After playing four years of basketball at Eastern Mennonite, Walker says if there was one thing she could pass onto her younger teammates it would be to "enjoy the experience while you are here because it goes by fast."

Walker is a sociology major.