Stories Of Success: Debreasha Powe
February 16, 2023 | Women's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Bulldog freshman’s career has been built on a foundation laid by family.
(Throughout Black History Month, Mississippi State is celebrating its current Black student-athletes, coaches and administrators by telling several of their personal stories. Today, HailState.com shines the spotlight on MSU women's basketball's Debreasha Powe.)
STARKVILLE – A young Debreasha Powe was mad.
It was years ago, and the now-Mississippi State freshman was just a kid at the time. She was with her twin brother, who had a pickup game of hoops with a bunch of other guys. Powe's problem? They wouldn't let her play, too.
"They didn't think I was good enough," Powe recalled. "So, I went home upset. I was angry."
In many ways, it was the start of the Meridian, Mississippi, native becoming the standout for the Bulldogs she now is.
A frustrated Powe arrived back home. Her father had a solution.
"My dad took me in the backyard, and he was like, 'If you want to be great, we're going to start right now,'" Powe said. "That's how I got into basketball. So, ever since then, I've been playing. Once I thought I was good enough and once I thought I was ready, my dad sent me [back to play with my brother and his friends] and was like, 'OK, go show them what you're made of.' I went up the street and the rest is history."
The guys didn't know what'd hit them. Powe took care of business and showed she belonged. She's continued to show it on every court she's been on ever since.
These days, Powe is one of the Southeastern Conference's premier freshmen. She currently leads MSU in 3-pointers made this season. She's third on the team in both scoring and rebounds per game.
She can do a little bit of everything. To a degree, it's all in her blood.
"Basketball has always been around my family," Powe said.
So many of Powe's relatives have loved and played the game, on both her mother's and father's sides. Yet the two biggest familial influences in Powe's hoops journey have been her dad and twin brother.
"My dad has always been a shooter," Powe said. "I got my shot from him. But as I started to really love basketball, it was my twin I'd work out with. My twin has the handles. He's got the shot, too. I was really just a shooter at first but watching him play and watching him and how he was able to dribble [helped me]."
Armed with all of her skills learned from her family and otherwise, Powe's basketball career started to take off as she got older. She'd eventually become known as a star for Meridian High School, but a notable moment in Powe's plight happened before that.
Powe was a junior high player at Lamar Academy in Meridian when she came to Starkville for a Mississippi State basketball camp. Powe was starstruck as she got to participate in a group led by a pair of players that are now Bulldog legends – Victoria Vivians and Teaira McCowan.
"I was so nervous to play because I was like, 'They're so good and I'm just little old me here,'" Powe said. "They were superstars in my eyes."
She couldn't have known it for sure at the time, but Powe would one day be in Vivians' and McCowan's shoes.
Prior to all that, Powe had to grow into one of the country's best high school players. She won two state titles in three seasons at Meridian. By Powe's senior year, she was the top-rated prospect from the state of Mississippi. She won the 2022 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year award.
Many top colleges came calling for Powe. However, one stood out above the rest.
"I'm a Mississippi girl, and I wanted to stay in the state," Powe said. "Mississippi State has always created great players. They've thrived. I knew I could be successful here. So, I wanted to come here and represent for my state."
Shining for the Magnolia State is precisely what Powe has done since putting on the Maroon and White.
In addition to her individual success this season, she's a key part of a Bulldog team that's making an NCAA Tournament push. There's work to be done, but Mississippi State is solidly in the mix if Powe and her squad can continue to handle their business.
A certainty down the stretch is that Powe will keep working and doing all she can to help get the Dawgs to the big dance. It's all she's ever known how to do, ever since her dad made sure she could hang with her brother and friends. Powe is still committed to improving like she was way back then.
"It's the grind," Powe said. "It's trusting the process. It's not easy, but I come in every day with a positive mindset of, 'I'm going to get better. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep striving for my goal.' Because one day I want to be able to play in the WNBA. I want to be successful in basketball. And God gave me this talent for a reason. He put me here, so I know anything that comes my way, I can overcome it."
Powe is full of skills. She's got an unmatched work ethic. She sets an incredible example to follow for those who might look up to her.
"I want them to see a girl that's just like them, that has been in their same shoes," Powe said. "That if they keep going, if they keep working hard, they can be here too one day."
Powe certainly kept going to get where she now is. And every now and then, she gets a reminder of how it all began.
The years have passed. However, a little brother-sister hoops action still breaks out when time and circumstances allow.
"Now, it's harder to win, because we're much older," Powe said. "It's a battle when we play each other."
