Photo from the Buffalo News
By Anyie Campusano
It was just last year that Ericka Taplin was named to the All-Western New York second team and the Erie County Interscholastic Conference first team. Now she’s senior who is said to “take over a game” and is called her teams “dominant player.”
Taplin has been playing for the Williamsville North basketball team ever since she was in the eighth grade. Her name now appears in all of the top three statistical categories at her school (points, rebounds and assists).
“She’s just a special, special kid,” Williamsville North coach Bill Shaw said to the Lockport Union Sun & Journal following North’s Class AA semifinal win over Lockport last season, a game in which Taplin scored 33 points in a 67-46 point victory. Shaw remarked that she “has outstanding skills” and “works very, very hard.”
Taplin is sometimes compared to her older brother, Sterling Taplin, who was named the 2014 Buffalo News player of the year. It is clear to see that Taplin is not in her brother’s shadow. Although she is following in his footsteps by playing basketball, she is doing her own thing, at her own pace, and is making a name for herself. It was her skills and her hard work that earned her a spot on the All WNY’s fourth team.
The two are competitive with each other, as any siblings are, but they also have a good relationship; she has said that her brother is a one of her main influences when it comes to basketball. She has also been seen sporting a “Tulsa Basketball” sweatshirt, the university where her brother will be attending to play basketball, showing that although they both have a competitive nature they still support each other’s basketball careers.
Taplin may be one of her team’s key players, but she credits a lot of people for their help in her success. Although she brings both offensive and defensive skills to the basketball court, she says she also likes to “bring positivity and the will to win.”
As a leader, she says she wants to help the team work hard and win. It’s obvious that Taplin is a great team player and an even better teammate.
“If she dominates, we win,” Coach Shaw says. “The games that we lost, she didn’t dominate.”
Taplin has averaged a double-double in almost of her games, and is obviously an extremely valuable player for the Lady Spartans.
In an article for the Amherst Bee, coach Shaw is quoted saying, “We knew that was how we were going to win. I told the kids that Ericka has got to touch the ball every time down the court and I think she did. When she plays that way, we are tough to beat.”
WNY high school hoops 15-16 