Drakeford picks CNU

The next time one of Forest Park's guards harasses an opposing playmaker into throwing a pass out of bounds or positions herself near the baseline and picks up a charge, Shayla Drakeford will get the credit.

Pressure defense is Drakeford's specialty and nobody plays it quite like her.

On a team that has built its entire championship reputation on denying access to the basket, she has a style all her own.

"What makes Shayla so special is her ability to apply an incredible amount of pressure on the ball," Forest Park coach Rebecca Tillett said. "She has left her legacy at Forest Park and spent a lot of time teaching freshmen her defensive style."

And even as she moves on to play basketball at Christopher Newport University next season, Drakeford's influence will remain as Lexi Carpenter, P.J. Jordan, Alisa Brown and Chanel Shands carry on her tradition.

"What doesn't show up in Shayla's stat line is the number of times she took away our opponent's possession of the ball by drawing a charge, forcing them to throw the ball away and deflections," Tillett said. "All of those things build defensive intensity for our team."

The Bruins may eventually name their on-ball defense after Drakeford, who averaged 2.5 steals per game, but is best known for shutting down rival point guards.

After playing a supporting role on the 2006 squad that captured a Group AAA state championship, Drakeford emerged as the program's defensive star as a sophomore -- playing alongside all-state point guard Danni Jackson to form the best backcourt in Virginia.

Forest Park reached the state tournament in each of Drakeford's four varsity seasons and all four members of last year's starting lineup have accepted college offers with Jackson headed to George Washington, Gerda Gatling signed with Stony Brook and Briana Scott commit-ted to Georgia Southern.

"I remember when we were all freshmen," Drakeford said. "We've grown up together and played against each other even before we got to high school so I think it's great that we're all going to play in college."

Drakeford, who turned down scholarship offers from Division II schools Belmont Abbey and Au-gusta State, will join Freedom graduate Alyssa Kerr and former Brentsville star Kimmy Hopkins at Christopher Newport.

"I'm really excited. I already wanted to go to Christopher Newport because of their science program. I think I'll get along really well there," she said. "The facilities are amazing, their dorms are really nice and they were a pretty good team last year."

The Captains went 22-7 last winter and qualified for the Division III NCAA Tournament.

"I'm excited to have a new challenge," Drakeford said. "I'm ready for that."