"Small but Mighty: The Relentless Rim Raider"

Keziah Renee’

@Keziah_renee (Twitter/X)

@Keziah_renee_2026 (IG)

5’7 (I consider myself a PG, CG, or Small Forward due to my strength)

c/o 2026

Butler Traditional High School; Louisville, KY

Keziah is a crafty three-level scorer who loves attacking the basket and plays with pace, always poised and in control. In the paint area around the rim Keziah uses her size and strength to overpower defenders at will effectively. Keziah has strong ball-handling ability and sees the court well. Keziah's versatility becomes very clear in not just her ability to score but makes nice passes and can play solid defense in her own rite. Kaziah's more conditioned and in better shape. Keziah became a more consistent shooter from 3-point range, which was her most significant improvement.

Keziah likes to Paint/Draw, hang out with her friends, and lately, she plays video games.

Kaziah's biggest accomplishments are Being ranked as the 26th leading scorer in KY at 19.7 points per game as an 8th grader. Keziah scored over 500 points in a High School single season as an 8 th grader.

Getting herself back on coaches’ radars after her season-ending injury

Being selected to the District All-Tournament Team and All-Region Second Team

Being named an All-State Honorable Mention her 1 st season back after her injury

In Keziah's first High School holiday tournament at Western High School in the 8th grade, she made her first ever and still only in-game half-court shot at the end of the first half.

This past season, Keziah averaged 11.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in 21 games. Keziah's biggest improvement since last season is getting stronger than most PGs, so she is working on using her size and body better. Keiah set some high personal specific goals for herself, including 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 steals per game because it is her Junior year and she never literally set “real” game goals before. The numbers may seem high, but when you take the time to break down the game in quarters with numbers, her goals are attainable. As long as he works hard and shows up to play relentlessly every time, Keziah believes she can reach each goal. Keziah also wants to win regional Player of the Year personally.Additionally, Keziah thinks she must constantly make a point to continuously build her IQ, stay healthy, play high defense on every possession, eliminate poor shot selections, and ultimately give 110% effort every minute. Lastly, but most importantly, she must eliminate turnovers and create more scoring opportunities through her defense. Teamwise, Keziah wants to win the District and region and make it to the State tournament.

Keziah feels being undersized in the paint. It is her biggest challenge. They face this season. Sadly, their tallest player is out for the season, so they must make a massive adjustment to work through that situation. Being back in her home state, Keziah looks forward to playing with her former teammates and friends at Assumption and Sacred Heart, as many are the top kids in the state and country. Keziah feels her team this year is guard-heavy, so they have a good chance. to make a deep tournament run. However, they must play smart at all times and stay out of foul trouble playing teams with good size.

What fuels Keziah's fire on the court the most is loves when the crowd is into the game and when the opposing team's fans talk smack. It’s just motivation to shut them up with

buckets!

Unfortunately, Keziah feels like her whole high school career has been full of adversity. Keziah played and started varsity in the 7th and 8th grades and ranked as the top 5th Guard in her class going into my freshman year. Keziah also had some D1 college interests at that time.

Sadly, injuries kept her off the court more than on it. Keziah also played on both JV and Varsity teams with very limited varsity minutes for the first time as a freshman. It was so hard going from playing in every game the whole game to barely playing at all. Freshman year then came to an abrupt end early in the season, and my season-ending injury caused me to miss what would’ve been her first year of AAU in High School. After her season-ending injury Keziah decided that she did not want to even play basketball anymore. Sheziah honestly wanted to quit, and she was very angry if she even heard anything about basketball. I Keziah felt like if she ever came back, then she would just end up hurt, and she was tired of being hurt. Keziah thought back to those days and totally lost the love and passion that she always felt for the game. It wasn’t until her Physical Therapist told her that her recovery was way

ahead of what they expected. It was at that moment that Keziah knew that her only goal from that point forward was to get back on the court and play basketball. I think healing faster than normal was God’s way of telling me that I still loved basketball and that he allowed her to continue to go after her dreams. Last year (her first year back), circumstances led her to a new state/new school, and Keziah joined a starting lineup of four seniors. Keziah thinks anybody who watched the movie “Love and Basketball” and remembers the college freshman playing ball with the upperclassmen can imagine the things that could come up in that type of environment. Keziah is lucky that her situation wasn’t close to being like those in the movie, but some things happened that once again made her want to quit basketball. There were a few games last year that Keziah remembers physically not playing her game and really not being mentally into the game. Keziah's mother, family, and friends somehow made her realize that she was a great basketball player and that being a great ball player was the only thing I could control. She learned that she couldn’t control other people and realized that she couldn’t let others dictate his future. Ikezia now knows that her family and friends are very important, and they will continue to be the ones to help me believe in herself and to know forever that she can only control what she can control regardless of the circumstances. Keziah saw her faith in God grow this year, and God is now my best defense against anything. At this very moment, she was counting on him to put her in the right and best situation for her upcoming High School season and final AAU season. Kezia truly has put everything that has been negative up until this point in the life behind him, and I am now counting on his blessings to be still able to play a sport that I love. MKeziah's mother said she may have been delayed, but she knows God will not deny him! The testimony is that God will not bring you through something if he hasn’t already made a plan to bring you out; this is Keziah's best advice for handling adversity.

Keziah's best advice is that she recently learned to accept that some people will not support you because of who you are,e and at the same time,e some people will support you because of who you are. At the end of the day, the only people that matter are the people that truly support you and the rest are non-factors. Interestingly, Keziah saw an Instagram post from someone she believes was his very first supporter all the way from the West Coast: Mr. Gems in the Gym,make the same statement, and he talked about “finding” your people. Keziah also saw the following post on Facebook which basically said do not listen to what people say about you because they do not know God’s plan. She looks forward to finding more of her people, and she cannot wait to live out the plan that has been prepared for her!

“When people saw a barren woman in Sarah, God saw the mother of all Nations.

When people saw a poor young Shepherd in David, God saw a mighty king of Israel.

When people saw a poor prisoner in Joseph, God saw a powerful minister of Egypt.

S,o never mind what people see in you.

God has a perfect plan for you!”

(Potee, F) (2024, October 20) [Facebook Status Update]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=916816160310990&set=a.106647001327914

Keziah's biggest things will be staying focused and consistent with the training and her performance, she admits that he move to a different state somewhat slowed down he training due to time and location, but it is these times that she needs to hold herself more accountable and work out more on her own. Keziah has been training with the best trainers since the summer of her year; she honestly knows how to train herself. In

In fact, this past year,r that’s what Keziah's mother told her all the time whe she couldn’t get into the gym with any of her trainers. She just wanted to play basketball at the next level with a full scholarship;p therefore, the level isn’t most important; it’s about the program that can make a way so that her mother will not need to contribute to her education. However, Keziah does believe in herself as she puts many hours of work into the game, and She feels she can play with the best of the best at any level, D1, D2, D3, NAIA, or JUCO.

Kezia has college interests at all levels, except she does n't think she has actually talked to any JUCO coaches yet. There are no offers yet, but Kezaih is confident that if she

continues to play to the best of her ability, and every time she is on the court, the offers will come.

I assess that Keziah's potential is really high and now that she has fully recovered from injury and locked in to getting to her dream as the love of the game has returned, we will see the best version of her yet. . Keziah's talent keeps landing her in starting roles for a reason and as she has battled against some of the best talent in the country her ability to excel on the next level is clear. . As Keziah continues the grind while holding firm to faith, the impact will shine through every time she hits the court. The offers will come as Keziah stays focused on performing at the level she can. This season will be a statement from Keziah you won't want to miss. Stay tuned!