Clark High senior Bobbi Floyd (center) was joined by her parents, Jodie and Gregory Sr., and nephew, Kash, during a letter-of-intent ceremony Tuesday. PHOTO: W.G. Ramirez
By W.G. Ramirez
Clark girls basketball star Bobbi Floyd was looking forward to a big week.
Not only was she planning on embarking on her senior season, she had a press conference scheduled to ‘officially’ announce she would be attending Delaware State on a basketball scholarship while her nephew, Kash, turns 2 years old on Dec. 11. She couldn’t have been any happier Sunday night, after a celebration for Kash’s birthday.
That came to an abrupt halt Monday around 3 a.m., when there was a knock at the door at the Floyd household. Kash’s mother, Monique Gittens – Floyd’s sister – died of heart failure.
“I wanted to come to school to get my mind off of it, but it was just overwhelming cause I was thinking ‘I just saw her yesterday,'” Floyd said Tuesday morning at the school. “And just like that, she was just gone.”
Nevertheless, since hearing the news that her sister passed, she’s been to school, practiced with her team and is preparing for Wednesday’s season-opener against Pahrump Valley. Tuesday morning she held a ‘mock signing’ to commemorate the letter-of-intent that is already on file at Delaware State.
Floyd didn’t have a chance to hold an official ceremony last month, and scheduled it for the day before the season, allowing her teammates, coaches, friends, Clark’s administration and all of her family to attend.
All, except Gittens.
Bobbi Floyd was overcome with emotion when during her letter-of-intent signing, as she spoke of her sister, who passed away early Monday morning. PHOTO: W.G. Ramirez
Floyd spoke briefly to everyone, thanking them, and then she paid homage to the one relative she considered to be her best friend.
“I would like to thank my sister, Monique, even though she’s not here,” Floyd said to the gathering. “I know she’s watching over me.”
The emotional scene got to most everyone there, but Floyd said she’s using her loss as motivation for the upcoming season. Clark was ousted from the Division I-A semifinals last season, when Boulder City outscored Clark 35-7 in the second half, including a dominating 22-2 fourth quarter, en route to a 58-33 victory.
Behind a cast of blue-collar players, and fifth-year coach Mike Moulchin, Floyd is determined to get her Chargers back into the postseason, and into the state tournament.
“She’s out there leading the team this year, she’s actually helped put the (defensive) press in this year,” Moulchin said. “So she’s done a lot of things, like a player-coach, and that’s some great maturity.”
Moulchin has had Floyd on varsity since her freshman season, and said he’s seen plenty of maturity since her first season donning black and gold.
“When we first got Bobbi she crossed over from cheerleading the year before,” Moulchin said. “I saw something in her from the first day, I mean she was like any other (player), some days she was there, others she was not. We had this tall girl that was gangly, (but) we saw she had a shot; she had a lot of upside. From then to now, the big transformation for me was from junior to senior year.”
Clark’s Bobbi Floyd signed a letter-of-intent last month, to play basketball at Delaware State. Friends, teammates, coaches and family gathered for a ‘mock signing’ to commemorate her signing. PHOTO: W.G. Ramirez
Floyd went from scoring more than 300 points her freshman year, to averaging 19.8 points and 15.6 rebounds per game last season. Add in her near 5 blocks per game, and Floyd is arguably one of the fiercest post players in Division I-A basketball, and quite possibly in the state, all around.
Moulchin said he talked with his star player over summer, explaining about her needing mental toughness for college, since she’ll be roughly 2,500 miles away from home. He explained to her that when she arrives in Dover, it’ll be an entirely different brand of hoops, with at least a handful of players better than her and another seven just as good.
What he didn’t think was she would need a boost of mental toughness to start her senior campaign, due to personal loss.
“I really didn’t expect her at practice (that first night), or for the opener against Pahrump,” he said. “But she said she made a commitment to the team. She’s committed to her family, and she’s going to be there for them too, but she’s become a leader and she’s been very big for help turning the team around.”
Said Floyd: “Now I have more meaning to this season. It’s not just playing this season just to play and ‘oh yeah I got a scholarship.’ I wasn’t sure I wanted to play these first couple of games, but then my older sister asked me ‘do you think Monique would want you to not play?’ This season is for my sister.”
So when she takes the court Wednesday night in Pahrump, she’ll have her sister’s initials on one shoe, and the date she passed on the other shoe.
“When I walk on the court, she’ll be watching me.”
(Tip time is 5 p.m. You can follow’s Floyd’s opening-game progress with the final box score on NevadaPreps.com.)
W.G. Ramirez 