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Kezia Ford's Travels

By KFBB Sports_Team

Story Created: Feb 7, 2011 at 11:59 PM MDT

Story Updated: Feb 7, 2011 at 11:59 PM MDT

As we near the end of a solid first season in the Frontier Conference for University of Great Falls junior, Kezia Ford is nearing her 300th point of the year.

But Ford's success story starts with her family and their willingness to travel. She transferred from Augusta to Great Falls High her junior year of high school.

"It was the best decision of my life," she said.

Then in college, she transferred two times, first from Southern Virginia to the University of Montana, then to the University of Great Falls.

"I figured coming to town (in high school) to play would give me a chance at being the best I could be," Ford said.

Ford was named all-state during her time with the Lady Bison, but the size of the school was the biggest learning curve.

"So many kids as opposed to my class of 9 kids in Augusta," Ford said.

Despite her success, she wasn't recruited by the local colleges.

"Southern Virginia," Ford said, "made me feel wanted."

But after two years, "things changed," so she enrolled at the University of Montana.

"Missoula is huge," she said.

Unlike her move from a small high school to a bigger one, she soon realized the bigger college wasn't the right move.

"You gotta make yourself happy," she said. So she transferred. But don't be fooled. Her desire to play college basketball again was complicated by the fact that the schools she wanted to go to didn't want her the first time around.

"I knew I would make it because I work hard," she said.

And she has at UGF, where the hardwood feels like home, and her new teammates feel like sisters.

We just love each other," she said.

"The younger girls look up to her," said UGF Head Coach Bill Himmelberg. "And it's nice for her to be able to play in front of her family and friends."

"(It's been) a very long road but absolutely worth every bit of it." Ford said.

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