Like most other youngsters in East Baltimore, Dunbar junior Michelle Wright first picked up a basketball on the neighborhood courts. She's now a standout 5-foot-9 forward with versatile skills and good range for the Poets, who have enjoyed a resurgence the past couple of years. Wright is one reason Dunbar reached the state Class 1A semifinals last season after struggling for a few years following their fourth straight state title in 2003; this season, she leads the No. 10 Poets with 21.7 points per game and is averaging 8.5 rebounds and 3.3 steals. She plays Amateur Athletic Union basketball for the Baltimore Cougars, coached by Dunbar's coach Wardell Selby, and played shortstop on the Poets' softball team. She surpassed 1,000 points this winter and plans to play basketball in college.
Question: How did you get started playing basketball?
Answer: I played basketball my whole life, but I started playing organized basketball when I was 12. One of my father's friends, he had recommended me to coach Selby's AAU team and ever since I've been playing for coach Selby.
Q: What's your earliest basketball memory?
A: Playing with boys on the basketball court [in East Baltimore]. I was 9 or 10.
Q: Do you still play against boys?
A: Yes. I can get better against girls, but you can get much better against boys. When I play against boys, I've got to let them know that I know how to play. They think that just because I'm a girl, I play like a girl. I don't. I play like a monster on the court.
Q: Who's better this year — the Dunbar girls or the Dunbar boys?
A: We're both equal.
Q: Was there a point where you thought, "I'm pretty good at this, and I could go far with basketball"?
A: When I started playing for coach Selby. My first game, I remember I scored 14 points and from that day on I had a mindset that I was going to be something as a basketball player.
Q: Did you ever consider going to St. Frances or a private school?
A: It was a thought, but I stayed here at my home school. I love the Poets. I feel more comfortable here. I love my coach, and I love my team.
Q: How does the inside combination between you and Oma-ah (Tayong, the Poets' 6-3 center) work?
A: I met Oma-ah ninth-grade year. At first, we didn't used to click on the court together, but then me and her, we started reading each other. We learned each other's weaknesses, and we learned each other's strengths. She knows my best qualities on the court, and I know her best. She knows my weaknesses, and I know hers.
Q: Did going to the state semifinals last year give the team a lot of motivation?
A: Yeah, because it was our first time going to UMBC. It was a long time since Dunbar had been there, so it was a big accomplishment. Even though we lost in the semifinals, we took our coach back to UMBC.
Q: You play forward but you have guardlike ability, too. Which do you prefer?
A: I think if I go to college I might be a guard, but I like it in the paint. I can get more points in the paint, and I can just do Shellian things. That's my nickname, Shelly. I have fun in the paint. I have a good outside game, too, but my strongest is the inside game. I'd rather do what I'm best at.
Q: What was it like to have such success with the softball team and go to states?
A: Last year, I didn't share the success with them, because I failed off the team, but this year I will definitely be with them. I really had fun with them.
Q: Did you learn from that experience?
A: Yes. I felt like a failure, but I got myself together this year, and it's not going to happen again.
Q: What's your grade-point average now?
A: Second quarter it was an 81 and last quarter, it was an 86.
Q: That's pretty good. What happened last spring?
A: After basketball season last year, everything just went downhill. I just wasn't focused no more, and [academics] didn't have my attention. During basketball season, I'm focused because I love basketball and I would not want to fail off.
Q: What does basketball mean to you?
A: It shows people that I'm more than just a girl. I can do what I set my mind to. It keeps me on track. If I didn't have basketball, I probably would be like some of these other teenagers out here, not being successful, dropping out of school. Basketball helps me be a successful young lady.
Q: What's your most prized possession and why?
A: My great-grandmother, she gave me a necklace and I have it in my house. It's my prized possession because my great grandmother gave it to me and I never know when she might leave me, so I have something that will always remind me of her.
Q: What makes your great-grandmother so special to you?
A: She's a very nice lady, and she wants the best for all her grandchildren. She motivates us. She helps us stay positive, and she keeps us in tip-top shape. When she puts her foot down, her foot is down.
Q: What does it mean to you to walk into the Dunbar gym and see all that basketball tradition, all those championship banners hanging on the wall?
A: It means a lot because people before my time they did their best to earn those banners. They accomplished a lot, and I would like to accomplish that, too, with my team. It's one of my goals to get my name on one of those banners. I want people to remember me when I leave Dunbar and to remember everybody who was on the team.