Her jersey reps number one just like her game. Fatinah Muhammad is Coronado’s athlete in the spotlight as she takes the top position in the school’s girls basketball program and places in the top ten in the 5A Colorado Springs Metro League. Tinah’s amazing efforts on the court and in school have not gone unrecognized by her coach, teammates, and peers.

   Fatinah is only a freshman yet, she ranks number one in steals, blocks, and in double doubles. In addition, Tinah has achieved the most points and defensive rebounds, steals, and blocks per game on the varsity team for CHS. But, it does not stop there, she is the number one Freshman scorer along with having made the most field goals in the entire league. After being asked how the season has been so far, she humbly responded with, “its been good, we’ve had some rough patches but we have gotten over it.” Her coach, Bryan Earls said that, “To this point in the season I am very happy with the teams efforts. The girls are working hard and are doing everything they can to get better every day.” Looks like our Coronado Girls Varsity are truly putting in work.

   Both Tinah and Coach Earls agreed that their favorite game was against Palmer. Tinah’s reasoning was that “everyone played good” and Bryan Earls added to that by saying that, “I thought the entire team played extremely hard and we needed great games from everyone to get our first win over Palmer in a more than a decade.” Tinah’s high stats show her love and dedication for basketball and when asked why she plays she simply replied “I just like it and it is a way to meet new people.” Coach Earls continues with why he loves to coach Tinah by saying that, “Outsiders see Tinah as a very quiet sweet kid and she is…… but when she plays basketball she is a confident, fierce competitor. My favorite part of coaching Tinah is when you tell her what you need to happen and she gets that little half smile and sort of looks away for just a second. In that second you just know she can make it happen.”

   In the 5A league competition is tough for a smaller team such as Coronado but in order to compete the girls, “have to rotate and play with intensity on defense and then really move the ball on offense,” as Earls puts it. Tinah does a great job of this as her coach explains his favorite highlight of her in the game against Lewis-Palmer, “when LPs superstar Katie Hovasse was bringing the ball up late in the third quarter…Tinah picked her up off a screen and switch, Tinah stole the ball, and then took it to the hoop for a lay-up. It was a huge play for us because we needed to get a defensive stop and we needed a score. It was a key play in that game because Hovasse fouled Tinah at the rim which caused Hovasse to foul out. This is my favorite highlight for Tinah because I think it’s what our team is about, helping on defense, pressuring the ball, and attacking the rim. We went on to win that game by 1 point.” The team really has come a long way and they work, “pretty good together, and they listen, and respect each other,” as Tinah puts it. Fatinah and her teammates run the court and are constantly working hard to get even better.

   With her talent, Tinah hopes to take her career in basketball to the “WNBA” and Coronado doesn’t doubt that she will. Her constant effort in practice and on the court has taken her to great heights and her stats prove it. As a Freshman, Fatinah Muhammad is taking Coronado’s basketball game by storm.