FERRIDAY — MeElle Reed may be a senior in school, but she’s only a sophomore on the basketball court.

Reed didn’t start playing basketball until her 11th-grade year in school, thanks to repeated recruiting pitches by her current teammate and coach.

Now, though, Reed, a forward, serves as team captain and is often seen helping her teammates with their schoolwork before practice starts.

“I was in the band my first two years (of high school), and people always told me I was tall, so I should play basketball,” Reed said.

“Coach (Lisa) Abron was one of them. She’s always pushed me and tells me to keep hustling. She said it would help me, and it did.”

Reed, who has a 3.9 GPA and recently scored an 18 on the ACT, said grades are stressed a lot by Abron.

“If you don’t keep your grades up, you can’t play,” Reed said. “If you make a bad grade, it’s not just you who’s going to suffer, but the whole team will suffer, because we have a small team.”

Because of that, Reed said she makes a point to use the time given to them before practice to study. And her teammates make sure to get help from Reed if they need it, Reed said.

“If one of my teammates needs help, we all help them,” Reed said. “If some of the teachers are still here, we go to them.

“Most of the time, I’m the one helping them. I show them how to work it out or give them an example so they can understand better, but I never do the work for them.”

And since Reed’s strongest subject is math, she said her teammates ask her for help daily.

“Every time we have practice, they always ask me questions about geometry or algebra,” Reed said. “Math is my favorite subject.”

Reed said she doesn’t mind helping her teammates out — usually.

“Unless they start arguing with me. With advanced math, most of the time I like helping, because it’s easy, but if they start confusing me, it gets annoying,” Reed joked.

Reed also said she has a least favorite subject.

“I’ve just never liked English,” Reed said. “I don’t like to write essays, but if I have to, I will. Different things like pronouns, subject-verb agreement, poetry… it’s just not my cup of tea.”

As team captain, Reed said she pushes her teammates to do well during practice.

“I tell them to hustle, help teach the basic fundamentals and try to talk to my teammates when they get mad about something,” Reed said.

Reed also tries to lead by example with her demeanor during games.

“Most of the time I hustle and keep good posture,” Reed said. “I try not to get mad at the officials if I’m not getting the calls. If we’re losing to a team we could beat, I get a little frustrated. I try to encourage my teammates, just like a captain should do.”

Reed said after high school, she’d like to either be a nurse or a teacher.

“I like to deal with people and help people,” Reed said. “I wouldn’t mind being a teacher, since I’d still be around people to help them, but I’d prefer nursing.”