Summers County girls basketball star Gracie Harvey has been a big-time player throughout her career.
Now the three-time all-state selection is taking her talent to the next level.
Monday afternoon, Harvey signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for Southwest Virginia Community College in Cedar Bluff, Va.
“I have wished for this my whole life,” Harvey said. “It has been my childhood dream to play college basketball and now I am getting to do it.”
Former Summers County head coach Chad Meador, who coached Harvey the first three years of her high school career, had a sneaky suspicion early on that the future all-stater might be something special.
“She was in fifth grade and we were at a Hinton Youth League tryout,” Meador recalled. “We are looking at the girls tryout and we see this taller girl with black hair. We looked at each other and said, who is that? I think her family had just moved into town. We fumbled through the roster and saw, Harvey, Grace Harvey.”
“We kind of kicked back and watched,” Meador went on to say. “She was pretty good. She made a layup and then she made a left-handed layup. We were thinking, hey, she was already ahead of the game.”
Having been around the game for many years, Meador knew a lot could change between grade school and high school, however.
Thankfully for the Lady Bobcats, Harvey continued to impress and blossomed into a star while wearing the Summers County jersey.
“You never know what is going to happen. Some players come through and they are all-stars for a little while, then they quit playing basketball,” Meador said. “(Gracie) is where she is now because she worked her tail off. She has come from the tall 5th-grader to a player with a great career here.”
The veteran coach is convinced her breakout moment came in the regional co-final when Summers County stunned Mingo Central in the Class AA Region 3 co-final to qualify for the state tournament.
“I think it was after her sophomore year where she had such a great season. I think it was at that moment, in my opinion, where she felt like she could this,” Meador said. “She played a lot that summer and played on the AAU circuit. She played with other players and continued to get better. She identified her weaknesses and worked on those weaknesses. Ultimately she was a huge part of the success we have had in the last four years.”
The most successful year for Harvey was her junior season when the Lady Bobcats upset Wyoming East in New Richmond to win the sectional title.
“Wyoming East, Mingo Central and Chapmanville are our biggest competitors and we ended up beating Wyoming East in the sectional championship,” Harvey remembered. “It felt awesome to host a regional one time and getting back to Charleston was a great feeling.”
After victimizing Mingo Central her sophomore year in Matewan, Harvey again traumatized the Miners the following year in Hinton.
Harvey scored 15 points in a very low scoring affair and hit the eventual game-winner to send Summers County back to the state tournament for the second year in a row.
The Lady Bobcats advanced the the Class AA championship game before falling in a rematch with their nemesis from Wyoming County.
Averaging nearly a double-double that year, Harvey was named first team all-state.
In Week 10 of the basketball season this year, Harvey reached a huge milestone when exceeded 1,000 points for her career. The historic week included a 36-point effort in a win over Greenbrier West and 18 points against PikeView.
“The state tournament was definitely a highlight of my career,” Harvey said. “Also every memorable trip like bus rides with the girls. The coaches just made everything so special.”
Taking her game to Cedar Bluff, Va. was not a difficult decision for the three-time all-stater.
“Southwestern was by far my first choice. They made me feel like home when I was there,” Harvey said. “All of the visits I watched them and they play the way I like to play. It is fast paced and they like to press. I feel like it is going to be a great year.”
Just as she was when entering high school, Harvey is ready to meet the challenges of the next level head on.
“I know moving from high school to college, that it is going to be a different pace and I am going to have to adjust to that,” Harvey said. “I feel like I will be able to push through and be great at the next level.”
