Furman University Sophomore Alyssa Ervin will ALWAYS be a part of Carroll County High School 🏫 Hoops history. Thanks to her kindness in my direction, Ervin will always be a part of our story here at OneofUs.Care.

The journey for Miss Ervin began back in the day, when Marion Harris suggested to a young child in the community that she should try to play Basketball 🏀.

Kris Richardson, Ed Robtison and Marc Motley coached her up and by the time she left The Hill, Ervin was the All-Time leader in scoring. Two State Championships and two other amazing seasons ended with Christy’s daughter having broken the 2,000 point mark before heading down to Elon University to play for the Phoenix.

The freshman year on the court at Elon University didn’t go as planned but Ervin didn’t let the setback slow her down on the  academic side of things.

Fast Forward to this season when Furman University entered the picture for the Ervin family 👪. Upstate South Carolina is a little further from The Hill but it was a fresh start, a much needed fresh start for the now 5’11 guard.

Thursday night the Paladins opened play in the Southern Conference with a road game in Johnson City, Tennessee. East Tennessee State University was the opponent and when the starting five took the floor, Ervin was not in the lineup.

Averaging in double figures, the starting five has been an on and off process for a few weeks now. At 6:09, Ervin entered the contest and at 3:10 the initial made 3-pointer. At 2:07 a lay-up made the total five points in four minutes but not newsworthy, yet.

After the first quarter the Paladins held a surprising 22-10 lead over the Buccaneers and Ervin sank a step back jumper from 17 feet to make it seven points on the night 🌙,.

At 7:41 (2) Kiddo sank a corner 3-ball to put her in double figures and after a brief stretch on the bench, she re-entered and quickly blocked 🚫 a shot. Nine seconds later, after a hard foul, Ervin calmly sank two free throws to make it 12 points in the first half.

Early in the third a swished 15 footer made it 14 points scored in just 14 minutes of playing time and Furman was threatening to run ETSU out of their own gym.

Fast Forward to late in the game and we find that the home team had erased a huge deficit and appeared to be on their way to a victory. The teams where tied at 68 – 68 and that is when Cher started singing in my head. Remember when the Cavaliers needed a basket 🧺 and Ervin wanted the ball in her hands?

Ervin was given that opportunity and she stepped up to give her team a 70 – 68 lead. Sadly, East Tennessee State University answered back with the tying points, erasing her game winning moment. Amazingly a second opportunity presented itself and her Coach and teammates were once again more than comfortable with Ervin ( there is no G on the end of her name, even though it was being added throughout the night by the announcers) taking the shot

The shot of the scoreboard came courtesy of Bill Gallimore as another long time fan had made the drive over. It reflects the fact that Ervin once again hit the clutch basket 🧺 to give her team the lead and after a defensive stop ✋, the victory !!!

None of us know how far this ride will take us but circle 🔵 the date, January 8, 2006 because it was the time that Miss Ervin turned back time …..