If you believe Sheila Boykin’s big brother, Shelton (who’s an electrifying presence on the Poly boys’ basketball team), he’s responsible for her career in basketball—if he’s right, the Poly faithful could end up deeply indebted to him. Sheila isn’t making huge waves this season—but as a junior and senior in the next two years, she might become a tidal wave.
Last year, she led the Lynwood Knights to a 23-8 record, a top-100 national finish, and a semifinal appearance in the CIF playoffs, where the Knights lost to her current team, the Poly Jackrabbits. That season, Boykin paced the Knights in both scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards per-game. She was good enough that she earned designation as one of ESPN’s top 100 high school girls’ basketball underclassmen. That was her freshman year.
Her career started years before, playing one-on-one with Shelton, who says Sheila started playing basketball because she was jealous of the attention their mother gave him when he started playing, attending all his games (the Boykins’ parents are both college basketball coaches). “She’s better than me, though,” Shelton admitted when we talked to him during a Poly girls’ practice. “I have to wait for my little sister,” he explained. “I’ll get in trouble if I come home without her. She’s great, though, she’s very smart on the floor, and she passes the ball really well. She puts her teammates in the perfect spot to score.” Shelton has certainly seen enough of his sister’s games to know—if you come to tonight’s Regional Championship at Pauley Pavilion, it probably won’t be hard to spot the Boykin family, who’ve followed Sheila through the playoffs. She even brings her own cheerleader, she and Shelton’s two year-old little sister, who usually dances with the Poly cheer team (though Shelton is adamant that she’ll not only play ball, but be better than he and Sheila).
After the phenomenal start to her prep career, Sheila’s parents moved she and Shelton to Signal Hill, so they could both attend Poly (Shelton attended Fairfax before the transfer). But on May 31st of last year, Sheila hurt her knee while playing, a serious injury that required surgery in July. “The way I was walking coming into this year,” says Boykin, “I didn’t think I’d see the court until next season. But I kept working hard at my therapy, and next thing you know I could play.”
Since coming back against Jordan in the second round of league play, Boykin has been a steady off-the-bench contributor, putting in about five points per-game as her knee continues to heal. “I’ll say this,” says her coach Carl Buggs. “I sure wish we had her healthy from the beginning of the season. She’d probably be in our starting lineup right now, she’s that type of player.” Buggs also went on to praise Boykin’s intelligence. “Probably her biggest value to the team is her basketball IQ, she’s very smar, understands the game. She’s also very unselfish, and with a team that has as many players that can go to the floor as we do, it’s a blessing to have her in that mindset.”
Sheila says a lot of her unselfishness comes from her mother, who told her what to expect in coming to a new school. “She told me when you come into a new school you’re not expected to play as much, you’re not expected to start. So you’ve got to be a role player, the person who rebounds, plays defense, makes good passes, instead of being the go-to player. That’s what I’ve tried to do with my game this year.”
But as her knee heals and as she progresses through her junior and senior year, the expectations, from her coach and from herself, are that she’ll grow into much more than just a role player. With the intelligence and confidence she’s exhibited already as a sophomore dealing with a new environment and a painful injury, there’s no reason to think she won’t. She talked about all of those subjects with an impressive self-awareness, and a composure that only slipped when I told her that Shelton said she was a better player than he was. “Really?” she asked. “Wow, he’s never told me that to my face.” So if you’re looking to get ahead of the curve, just go ahead and start rooting for Sheila Boykin now—with the support of her coach and her own personal cheering section, you certainly won’t be alone.