As you've likely heard, we don't have any live-action contests to cover at LetsGoPeay.com right now. What we do have is free time; oodles and oodles of free time. Enough free time to swap oodles of emails with various people who would know to create a snapshot of the 10 best players in Austin Peay women's basketball history. Today we turn our focus to the ultimate complementary player, someone whose skills were perfect alongside the star she was paired with.
If you've watched the first two episodes of "The Last Dance," ESPN's excellent documentary on the last season of the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls, you've been treated to descriptions of Scottie Pippen as an ultimate teammate, the guy willing to do all the dirty work to elevate those around him, someone who could be a star if needed but was happiest helping the team win.
Tracie Mason was that person for the late-80s and early-90s women's basketball team, the Pippen to Shandra Maxwell's Jordan for much of her career and someone whose contributions are worth noting on their own merits.
Never flashy, Mason never led the Govs in rebounding and only led in scoring once in her Austin Peay career, as a senior. Yet she poured in 1,326 points (ninth all-time) and grabbed 664 rebounds (11th) as a steadying presence, and might have been even better defensively—her 243 career steals stood as the program record for nearly a decade, and she's still among the all-time top-10 in career blocked shots. Pretty good considering she never played more than 26 games in a season; add four more to give her an even 30 (the standard now) for each year and the numbers are even more impressive.
The teams of that era were not the best in the program's history, which is one reason Mason only garnered All-Freshman honors and an honorable mention All-OVC nod during her career. Don't let that fool you—she was the real deal for the Govs.
