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Of course the tallest girl in the class had potential as a basketball player, but Catrina Green had never even touched one when she went out for her 7th grade team, and she was still so awkward that she'd come home in tears after a tryout gone wrong.

"It broke my heart," her mother, Patrice, said. "I almost started calling coaches to bribe them. When I got the call that she was getting a scholarship, I said, 'Uh, who are you talking to? You sure you got the right number?' "

Yep, it's definitely Green that Gardner-Webb wants, the late-blooming 6-foot-2 center who's averaging 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks per game and will likely own Western Guilford's career blocked shots record by the time her senior season is over.

She and her teammates celebrated on Friday her recent signing with the Lady Bulldogs, who are currently atop the Big South with a 14-3 record.

That Green is even a productive high school player is a tribute to her dedication to the game. Her older brother Quintan taught her all the fundamentals during those clumsy middle school years, and she's run before school all year to shed the baby fat that's been there ever since she was born a heavy-even-for-a-bowling-ball 12 pounds, 14 ounces. She's 30 pounds lighter now than she was as a freshman.

"I didn't just want to be the player with potential," Green said. "I wanted to be the star of the team."

Now her teammates call her "Tree," which certainly fits her imposing stature but actually originated, head coach Jeremy Heinold said, because Catrina has too many syllables to yell when he's mad.

"She does so much without the ball," Heinold said. "People see the points, the rebounds, the blocks, but all our defensive rotations are based on where she is."

Even without a JV team last year, the Hornets went 10-16, including a first-round playoff upset. They're back up to 24 players this season and are on pace for the school's first winning varsity season in seven years. The renewed interest in the program is due, as much as anybody, to Green.

"She's never too high, never too low, always plays with a lot of heart," Heinold said. "She gives everything she's got every night."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com.