In 2012, the only freshman impressive enough to be placed on the Diamond Bar High School girls varsity basketball team was Destinee Garr. Now, as a senior and one of five team captains, Garr is leading the Lady Brahmas through their most successful season in 20 years.

While natural talent may play a role in Garr’s success, she recounts how her hard work since third grade has been essential in her development.

Garr found inspiration to begin playing through her family, who shared the same interests in sports.

“My dad used to play [basketball] and I just grew up with all my cousins playing sports. I didn’t like to play with Barbies anyway,” Garr said.

For the past seven years, Garr has been playing with her a travel team, Edge Basketball. She was chosen out of three hundred other players by her travel ball coach to receive an award for being an all around outstanding player.

For the Brahmas, Garr has become an exceptional rebounder, averaging seven per game.

“She’s always been and probably is one of the best rebounders that has ever played at Diamond Bar. She’s been good at that all along,” head coach Tony McCabe said.

Throughout her four years on the varsity team, Garr has been team captain for two years and played in every position, showing how flexible she is in her ability.

Garr was able to smoothly transition from being a center to a point guard, which is sometimes regarded as the hardest position to play.

According to McCabe, Garr’s versatility is what makes her especially appealing to the college recruiters.

With averages of 6.1 points per game, 1.1 steals per game and 0.5 blocked shots per game, Garr surpasses the national average in all four categories.

After placing second in league, Garr and the Lady Brahmas are now focusing on doing their best as the CIF playoffs draw near.

“I’m proud of every game we play because we have to work so hard to win and just to play our best,” Garr said.

Even with her impressive high school career, Garr admits to facing rough patches once in awhile, during which she begins to lose her will to continue playing basketball. However, encouragement from her teammates, specifically co-captain Kayla Rice, has been a big reason why she continues to pull  through.

“[This season] has been fun, but you have those times where you don’t want to play anymore and you have to push yourself. You have to say ‘you can do it, don’t quit.’” Garr said.

With her final year on the team coming to an end, Garr looks forward to a strong end of the season, though it is not without a heavy heart that she leaves the team.

In the future, Garr looks to forward to playing with a junior college team, though she isn’t sure about any further plans regarding basketball.

“I’m going to miss playing with the girls on the team and just playing high school ball,” Garr said. “I know it’s going to be a lot different in college so I’m enjoying it while it lasts.”

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