Athlete Spotlight

Amaura Brandt sounded as though she knew what path the questioning would take next.

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The Augusta Christian sophomore is having a standout season for the Lions girls basketball team. Her father, Mike Brandt, is the head women's basketball coach at USC Aiken.

She must spend all her time in the gym, right?

Augusta Christian coach Keith Walton calls Amaura Brandt a gym rat. He said she has the basketball IQ typical of a coach's child.

But Brandt doesn't live in the gym. She doesn't have time. She is part of the Greater Augusta Youth Orchestra. She takes violin lessons.

During the fall, she ran cross country, and she plans to run track this spring.

Her father's occupation has put Brandt in a unique situation, but she hasn't made the sport her life.

"I've been able to have opportunities other people wouldn't get," Brandt said. "He's helped me a lot. He never pushed me."

Brandt has been able to participate in Lady Pacers scrimmages and tryouts. When she wants to use the gym, she can just ask her dad.

The Lions finish the regular season this week. Entering the week, they were undefeated in SCISA Region AAA-1. The Lions game Tuesday was probably their toughest test. Augusta Christian beat Heathwood Hall on Jan. 19, but the Highlanders had not suffered another region loss before visiting Augusta Christian on Tuesday.

Brandt has been one of the cogs to the Lions' success, as has the play of guard Lindsay Banks and post player Lindsay Jernigan. The three have produced match-up problems for opposing teams.

When one is not on, the others are.

"The whole year has been like that," Walton said. "One of them's always going to have a good game."

The Lions needed contributions from everyone after standout Elizabeth Alewine was lost for the season with a knee injury.

With Alewine, the Lions leading scorer last season, Augusta Christian's style had been to play faster, to move the ball quickly up the court in transition and, oftentimes, shoot transition 3's. This year, the pace has been more methodical, almost too slow for Walton's liking. But it has worked.

"I think we've played pretty well as a team," Brandt said. "We've been working on unity. We're focusing on getting the win. It doesn't matter who scores the points, we just want to score them."

Brandt is often responsible for much of the scoring. She said her dad had worked with her on the proper technique, but not to the point she was spending all her free time in the gym.

With more than two years to decide her next step, Brandt said she wasn't sure what future plans might hold.

She said basketball could remain a factor.

"I'm not 100 percent sure if I want to play in college, but I'll probably end up playing," she said. "And I'd like to play for my dad."