Second of two parts
A lot of good things
Beatrice Clayton is the only Black player on the St. Catherine women’s basketball team this season. She is a first-year player from Stockbridge, Ga.
We asked her after a recent game, a 53-50 road victory at Hamline on Jan. 31, about moving up north to attend one of two all-female colleges in the MIAC.
“One thing that sticks out to me is that I wanted to go somewhere where I can make a difference and make my own way,” stressed Clayton. In other words, she wasn’t scared to venture out of her normal comfort zone? “No, sir,” replied the Wildcat post player.
Assistant Coach Geno Bullard told MSR of Clayton, “Beatrice fits in very well. She brings a different dynamic to the team. She’s able to go inside the post.
“A lot of people don’t know she’s actually got a good shot,” continued the coach. “She does a lot of good things. She can also space the floor for us. And I would say she brings something different to the MIAC that you don’t really see a lot of post players able to venture out to the three point [line] and be versatile within the paint.”
Clayton pointed out that she has slowly adapted to campus and court life. “Yes, I’m starting to get used to the culture difference,” she said.
“I’m studying right now exercise science to be a physical therapist just because [my] family, we’re all in the medical field. I just want to do something different because there are nurses [in her family].
“I just want to be a physical therapist because I feel like it’s my passion being in sports since I was a kid.”
As for her court time, Clayton is averaging five and a half minutes a game. She logged double-figure minutes in four contests this season.
The freshman said that balancing books and hoops, although it’s in college, has not been as hard for her as one might believe for a first-year college student-athlete. “I got a little taste of it in high school when I was doing dual enrollment,” said Clayton.
“I was taking college classes also while playing basketball, so I got a little bit of experience in it.”
Historic success
Geno Bullard is in his third season as St. Catherine assistant women’s basketball coach. He is the only Black member on the Wildcats coaching staff.
“I’m originally from Nassau, Bahamas,” said Bullard after a Jan. 31 road win at Hamline.
Bullard has extensive coaching experience acquired after his playing career ended, which included being a member of the Bahamas National Team. He got into coaching at a prep school in San Antonio, Texas, where he helped his team win a state championship. He was a graduate assistant with both Minnesota State Mankato men’s and women’s basketball teams (2017 to 2020), and later an assistant coach at Coastal Bend Junior College, where the squad made a regional tournament appearance.
The St. Kate’s WBB assistant coach over the course of his career has worked with WNBA, NBA, college and high school athletes. But of late, one of Bullard’s greatest achievements is playing a pivotal role in the Wildcats’ “historic success” — the program’s best record in school history in 2023-24 (19-8) and its highest team GPA in the MIAC, a 3.72 GPA that ranked 13th in Division III.
Bullard also is St. Catherine athletics diversity and inclusion designee. “This year I took over in a role for diversity and inclusion,” he pointed out. “I’ve seen a lot of diversity starting to happen within all of our programs, not just basketball or soccer or track [but] also hockey and also within our basketball team.”
First-year post player Beatrice Clayton is one example — she is the team’s only Black player this season and hails from Stockbridge, Ga.
“We’ve also been able to recruit and also draw a lot more attention to us where we are able to create diversity,” stressed Bullard. “We’ve also brought diversity within our administration.”
Softball Assistant Coach Kobi Allen is the Wildcats’ other coach of color at the school.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
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