by By Dan Ninham
The Feather River College Golden Eagles women’s basketball team is showing progress. The junior college in Quincy, CA is coming off a 12-15 record with hopes to continue to turn it around.
Precious Masters, 19, is a Shoshone/Paiute and enrolled at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in Reno, NV. She is a 5’8 guard sophomore basketball player at Feather River College. This past season she averaged 17.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game.
Precious was a basketball player at McDermitt High School in McDermitt, NV. Her accomplishments include being First Team All Division sophomore to senior seasons and honorable mention as a freshman. She was also Northeastern 1A Player of the Year sophomore, junior and senior years. Precious was named to the Las Vegas Review Journal All Nevada Team. She led the state in rebounds and scoring her junior and senior seasons. The team was state tournament runner-up’s her freshman and junior year while qualifying for state three out of four seasons.
“My father is Duane Aaron Masters Sr., Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, and my late mother is Rose Anna Johnson-Masters, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony,” said Precious.
“My tribal core values have helped shape me into the person I am today,” said Precious. “I’ve attended many powwows and each time I’ve been able to represent my people with great respect. Many people have helped me to understand the circle and my Grandpa Sam Johnson has had the biggest impact along with my mom and dad. My Grandpa has given me advice and taught me how to understand and respect all who I come across in my life.”
“A lot of people have positively influenced me throughout the years,” said Precious. “My late mother had the biggest influence why I am a competitive athlete. I never really understood until now that she is the person that drives me to be great. Whenever I play my goal is obviously to win but it’s bigger than that for me, it’s a chance for me to give my mom and other late relatives something to be proud of. Even if she never really got to see me grow as a player by being here I know she is smiling down on me from above. Every time I lace up my shoes to compete in anything it is for her and the rest of my family. I compete for those who no longer are able to and to make my family proud.”
“Coach Jaimi Wilkinson helped me through tough times on and off the court,” said Precious. “Whenever I was on the verge of quitting anything she pushed me to continue on. Coach has taught me a lot in life from how to be respectful and hold myself to higher standards off the court to on the court teaching me almost everything I know about the game. The biggest impact this coach had on me was believing in me, while I didn’t even believe in myself.”
“Precious was the most unselfish player I ever had,” said Coach Jaimi Wilkinson. “She had the ability and talent to take over a game anytime and yet she understood that in order for us to win and advance late in the season she was going to need her teammates to be threats as well. She worked to get her teammates involved. She made everyone around her better and wasn’t afraid to spend time one on one with younger players to help build their skills as well as their confidence.”
“I can tell you how many times she literally outscored an opposing team all by herself but in those games she made sure to only take shots that she wasn’t able to pass off on. She was also a leader off the court, and you could almost always find her making time for younger players in the hallways and in the classroom. She was our student body president and an absolute joy to be around. Precious had an infectious smile and a heart of gold,” added Jaimi.
“Precious was a leader on the court thru her intensity and play, always willing to do the little things to help her team compete,” said Shawn Harry, head coach of the native tournament team Sacred Thunder. “She has been a blessing for me to coach and to know as a person. She is great young lady and I believe will achieve greatness through her drive and hard work.”
“Precious is a workhorse on the court,” said Keyshawn Johnson, first year interim associate head coach of the Feather River College Golden Eagles women’s basketball team. “When the ball tips Precious hits a level of ‘locked-in’ that you rarely see. She scores from in close, from deep, off the dribble, off the catch. She leads through her actions by going out and getting a stop and turning that stop into a transition bucket. She has a lot of potential and I can’t wait to see what she does in her second year.”
“My coaches taught me something about the game whether it be fundamentals, training, giving feedback, or teaching me to be a better teammate,” said Precious. “Shout out to the players that have had an impact on my competitiveness, they are mostly old teammates. Funny how I was nowhere near as good as any of them my freshman year but I wanted to be as good and that made me want to work harder and want to be better.”
Photo Credit: Gordon Long
