Southeastern Pennsylvania Top 10
1. Penn Wood (Record: 15-3. Weeks rated: 5.)
2. Neumann-Goretti (Record: 17-1. Weeks rated: 5.)
3. Plymouth Whitemarsh (Record: 17-1. Weeks rated: 5.)
4. Archbishop Carroll (Record: 16-2. Weeks rated: 4.)
5. Chestnut Hill Academy (Record: 15-3. Weeks rated: 3.)
6. Strawberry Mansion (Record: 16-0. Weeks rated: 5.)
7. Friends Central (Record: 17-2. Weeks rated: 3.)
8. La Salle (Record: 13-3. Weeks rated 1.)
9. Holy Ghost Prep (Record: 16-3. Weeks rated: 1)
10. Neshaminy (Record: 14-4. Weeks rated: 1)
Chikilra Goodman will be standing there on the foul line and her eyes will drift for a moment, always to the left, always to where he used to stand. In between bounces of the ball, she could hear his soothing, easy tone, gently imploring her to remember the mantra he must have repeated a thousand times in her ears, "Foul shots make the game, foul shots make the game."
Then Goodman will rise up, hit one free throw, and then another. She’ll look back over her shoulder as she runs down court and the vision and voice will be gone. But the 5-foot-10 senior from Bodine High School in Philadelphia knows he’s there somewhere, watching and smiling down at his granddaughter.
Ronald Goodman has to be proud.
Chikilra Goodman is the nation’s leading female scorer, averaging 37.2 points a game — and doing it against teams geared up solely to stop her. She’s nearing 2,000 career points, and could be Bodine’s all-time leading scorer before she’s through this season. She’s tough, determined, and possesses a strong handle and a solid work ethic, and it’s led to her being sometimes unstoppable.
The one missing ingredient is that her grandfather, Ronald, isn’t able to share these special times with Chikilra and to appreciate the ballplayer he helped mold and hone into a scoring machine, along with Chikilra’s mother, Tondalaya, a former star in her own right who went on to play for Hampton University.
Ronald died of cancer in March 2006 — but even when he was battling through it, he always thought of Chikilra. Chemo or lost weight wasn’t keeping him from watching her until the very end. His memory is what motivates Chikilra today.
She has a tattoo on her right arm that says "Peace Pop Pop" with a basketball swishing through a hoop. Mom wasn’t crazy about it at first, because it was so big, but it was for a good cause and to honor the person who made the player Chikilra is.
"I think about my grandpop all the time," Chikilra said. "My mother and my grandpop were always there for me. My father was never part of my life; it’s always been my mother and my grandpop. They’re my motivation and what pushes me. I have a picture of my grandpop in my locker and on my bedroom wall. There were a lot of times I felt like giving up basketball after he died. It was depressing at times without him. He’d be at every game. You look over there where he always stood and you don’t see him. That was hard."
Goodman overcame it. She endured. Now she makes it hard on anyone who faces the Lady Ambassadors, a young team that rotates four sophomores and two freshmen along with her. Goodman has seen every junk defense imaginable, not to mention a rolling ball of arms, hands, fingers and legs thrown at her each time she has the ball.
"Yeah, even legs," said Chikilra, laughing. "Earlier this year, I had a girl jump on my back during a game. I mean she really jumped right on my back. Sometimes I feel like I’m playing football, not basketball. I’m used to being sore after games, though. I expect it. It’s nothing surprising. Sometimes I get a little frustrated and I get a little angry, but I’m learning to laugh and be patient about it."
Entering this week, Bodine, a high academic school in the Philadelphia Public School system, was 11-4 overall and 7-1 in the Public League Class AA Red Division. Goodman had around 1,850 career points, nearing the 2,000-point plateau. Jasmine Elum, now at Bethune-Cookman, is Bodine’s all-time leading scorer with 2,063 — a reachable mark for Goodman.
"Chikilra is pretty remarkable," Bodine coach Carlos dos Santos said. "She’s seen triple and quadruple teams, and she’s still scoring. She reminds me of a high school version of Charles Barkley, a little undersized, yet she gets every rebound and can handle the ball. She has a great handle and great vision. She has the potential to become a great college player one day.
"We’re a very small school, and Chikilra has a very young team around her, so you can say she’s carrying the load. It hasn’t been easy on her. She’s working overtime with me to help the other girls and get them more involved. I’m very proud of Chikilra, of where she might end up and how she’s dealt with this season."
Goodman is getting attention from Morgan State, Rider, Boston University and Northeastern. But because Chikilra plays in the Philadelphia Public League, not exactly noted for attracting college scouts for girls basketball, she’s been a hidden gem to many Division I schools. She’s developed a nice outside game, and has the handle of a point guard. Who’s to say what else she could do with more experienced players around her?
There is no junior varsity program at Bodine and some of the players are forced to learn on the go at the varsity level. Still, Chikilra keeps pushing along. She has to. She has no other choice. She wouldn’t want to disappoint a few special someones.
"I just loved it, I always wanted to play basketball, and it’s because of my mother and my grandfather," Goodman said. "I just started playing because I was around the game so much. My mother is both my mother and my father, and she’s pretty special. But she’s special because someone in her life was pretty special, and that’s my grandfather. I play for him now. I know he’s somewhere watching me."
Joseph Santoliquito covers high schools for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a contributor to MaxPreps.com. He can be contacted at JSantoliquito@yahoo.com.
