Lee Central's Pitts dominates on the hardwood, wins Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

Lee Central's Natalie Pitts shined when the Lady Stallions needed her most last week.

She averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds while helping Lee Central win games over Latta and Scott's Branch.

That performance was enough for her to earn the Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week.

"It feels good," Pitts said of receiving the recognition. "It feels like all my hard work is starting to pay off. I go into the games thinking I have to go hard in order to be dominant. Playing basketball, half of the battle is just playing hard because a lot of girls don't like to be physical. I just try to dominate and have fun."

In the Lady Stallions' 39-38 win over Latta, Pitts scored 15 points and secured 12 rebounds.

"My mindset was to just keep playing to be resilient," Pitts explained when talking about her thought process as the game unfolded. "It took a lot of heart to win that game. It showed who wanted it more and which team put in the most work and was willing to play together in order to win."

Head coach Patrice Holmes shared how appreciative she is of having Pitts on her team and talked about the impact she has on the floor.

"You want a player like her," Holmes said. "She comes in to practice wanting to get better every single day. She always puts in extra time, whether she is staying after or coming to practice early. She's always asking questions about how she can get better. She's come up huge for us.

"She wants to dominate on both ends of the court and does just that. A coach would really want a team full of Natalie Pittses because she's willing to put in the work and take accountability."