BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
RIO GRANDE CITY — Most high school players never get the recognition Jocy Amaya has earned during the past three-plus seasons. At the same time, few players as heralded as Amaya reside in Rio Grande City.
Amaya crossed the 2,000-point mark for her Rattlers career on Dec. 1 at the La Feria Tournament, with a 16-game slate of district games to go.
“I didn’t really think about scoring until I started to get close to 1,500 last year,” Amaya said. “My goal this year was to get to 2,000 early, because I only scored a little more than 600 points last year.”
Amaya scored a modest 11.3 points per game during her freshman year.
“Jocy was a big kid, but she was one of those kids who played ball just for the fun of it,” Rio Grande City coach Gustavo Valenciana said.
During the following offseason, everything changed for Jocy.
“She would hustle, but she was still raw,” Valenciana said. “After the season, she’d come in and ask me, ‘Coach, can I shoot in the gym?’ every single day. She was probably the only one who did. That’s when she made her biggest jump.”
Amaya was named as an All-District Second Team performer after her freshman campaign.
“That recognition motivated me,” Amaya said. “To get that as a freshman was amazing. If I kept on practicing more and practicing harder, I imagined I’d get more recognition and be better for our team.”
Amaya’s scoring average rose to just under 19 per game during her sophomore (18.7) and junior seasons (18.9). She was also named the district’s Offensive Player of the Year twice, is a two-time First Team All-Area honoree and was selected to play in the Vipers’ All-Star Showcase exhibition two times.
Naturally, Amaya became the focal point of opponents’ defensive schemes against Rio Grande City this season. Still, Amaya reached the video game-like average of 24.4 points in 22 games this season.
“Her game has evolved a lot,” Valenciana said. “She has spin moves. She can go up and under. She can stroke it from outside. Sometimes, she feels the pressure of having to do everything for us. I said, ‘Hey, you’re going to do most of it, but you don’t have to do everything.’ She has to relax and let the game come to her.”
“I’ve kind of felt that pressure,” Amaya said. “The coaches and the players depend on me, because I’ve had to grow into that role the past few years.”
Rio Grande City (14-8) opened district competition last week with wins over Valley View and Laredo Martin to stand as one of three 31-5A teams entering Tuesday with a 2-0 district record.
The program sits in a particularly young district. Teams like Laredo Cigarroa and Laredo Martin, which finished first and second in 31-5A with a combined 27-5 record in district play last year, are each undergoing rebuilding efforts after graduating stellar senior classes. Rio Grande City challenging for a district title in 2017-18 would be a challenge. The Rattlers haven’t won a regular season championship in 32 years.
“I feel like it’s a possibility,” Amaya said. “I believe in my team. When we start making baskets and running the floor, there’s nothing we can’t do.”
Despite her gaudy career numbers, Amaya said she hasn’t received much interest from coaches to play basketball at the college level.
“I’m somewhat interested by playing basketball in college, but I don’t really know what I want to do yet,” Amaya said. “I remember thinking, ‘I’m a junior, so I have one more year to think about it’ but now I’m a senior.”
Amaya has two careers she’s thought about pursuing.
“I want to be either a registered nurse or a neonatologist,” Amaya said. “What got me interested in medicine, to be honest, is the show ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ When I saw doctors or neonatologists cutting and stitching up organs back together, that really looked interesting to me.
“I’ve always wanted to be somewhere in the medical field. It’s either basketball or medicine.”