Florence keeps on giving

The molding of a tenacious athlete may have all started on a driveway basketball court in Boise, Idaho, when a young Emily Florence decided she couldn't let her three older brothers have all the fun. When Florence joined the game, with her small frame and her brothers' rough play, it did not take long before her father Mike found her back in the house crying.

"I would tell her, don't go out there and play with them, those guys are playing serious basketball and they don't want to deal with you," Mike Florence said. "But pretty soon, she'd be back out there ... she was just a little competitor."

Following around her three older brothers Ben, Branden and Nic, Florence spent plenty of time getting pushed around and picked on while growing up. Now, she said, she learned multitudes from the experience.

"I usually didn't give up. I fought back as much as I could," she said. "So that's where I got my competitive edge."

Florence displays that competitive edge she picked up from the three older boys in any sport she plays. Each of her brothers played baseball in college, and Branden now plays professional baseball in the minor leagues.

"I look up to my family the most," Florence said. "They're good role models and good people. They just tell me to work hard and never regret anything [HTML_REMOVED] give it all I have. They've been successful in everything they've done and I just try to follow them as much as I can."

It wasn't long before Florence started having successes of her own. As a senior in high school, Florence earned awards as both the best soccer player and the best basketball player in Idaho. She had more colleges pursuing her to play soccer, but after visiting Washington and weighing the decision thoroughly, she eventually decided she wanted to come play basketball for the Huskies.

"After coming here I just loved the team, the atmosphere, and Seattle is a really cool city," Florence said.

At just 5'4" playing Division I basketball in the Pac-10, Florence [HTML_REMOVED] who is often the smallest person on the court [HTML_REMOVED] could easily run into plenty of problems playing against goliaths that look almost twice her size, but with her speed, agility and constant aggressive play, Florence plays a bigger game than expected.

A starter since her freshman year, Florence plays with so much tenacity and scrappiness that she almost looks likes she might pick up and start spinning [HTML_REMOVED] which explains why some of her fans have called her "Taz." She plays with an almost reckless abandon, which is often visible when she dives after loose balls with little concern for what she's diving into, whether it be a lane full of post players twice her size or into the stands.

"In high school she played just like she does now, feisty and dominating the court," said Maggie O'Hara, Florence's teammate at both Washington and in high school. "With three older brothers, if she wanted to play, she couldn't cry, or she couldn't complain about being knocked around, so that's where she got it."

This no-holds-barred play sometimes scares both her parents and her teammates, but most of them know that they can't slow her down.

"I worry most about her getting her teeth getting knocked out because she won't wear her mouth guard," said Florence's father, an oral surgeon. "She has such beautiful teeth, and I have showed her some of my patients who have had basketball injuries but she still doesn't want to wear it."

Since Florence's head usually sits at her opponents' elbow level and she plays an in-your-face tight defense, she often ends up on the sharp end of a flying arm, which led to a broken nose last year. Still, she has avoided much other damage to her face and teeth.

"I always get nailed in the face, so I'm pretty used to it," Florence said. "I should be wearing my mouth guard more than I do, but it's hard to call plays with it in."

While she may not mind risking her own safety, Florence certainly watches out for the welfare of others. Both on and off the court, Florence's teammates know her as a caring person more concerned about good outcomes than padding her stats or reputation.

This shows as she dishes out assists left and right during games while relaying the offensive calls of coach June Daugherty. Florence leads the team in assists (75) and steals (44) and crashes the board hard with an average of 5.3 rebounds per game [HTML_REMOVED] second behind senior Cameo Hicks, who pulls down 5.4 on average. Off the court, Florence displays her unselfish nature in her joyful nature and concern for others' well being.

"She's just a great person, everyone loves her," said Hicks, who is one of Florence's best friends and teammates. "She's great to be around, really friendly, always positive, she always has a real bright attitude. It's great to have her as a friend."

One fond memory recounted by Florence's mother Sharon occurred during Florence's junior year in high school. She had befriended a senior girl with Down's Syndrome in one of her classes. When the girl got excited to attend the senior party, the school [HTML_REMOVED] concerned with the liability [HTML_REMOVED] said she couldn't attend unless her mother came. The girl didn't want her mom to come to the senior party, so she called and asked Florence to accompany her. Sharon said that at first Florence worried about being the only junior there but eventually "sucked it up" and went on her own accord.

"It was such a touching moment, because that's a little memory that little girl will have the rest of her life," Sharon said. "It was just so neat, because I remember [the girl's] mom calling me and saying that was just the most wonderful experience she's ever had and Emily really made it happen for her."

Many people have expressed their gratitude for Florence's warm generosity. To Florence, making it happen for other people is just a part of her day-to-day duties.

With Florence's well-honed instinct for ball trajectories (picked up from years of baseball) and her skill at speeding up the flow of a game, the Huskies appreciate having her on the floor to dismantle their Pac-10 foes, and off the court for her great spirit and caring personality.

While the team has struggled to win a little bit lately, if Florence's teammates can learn to forget their weaknesses and learn to use their strengths as well as she does, they could set the groundwork for a good playoff run.

Reach reporter James Schleicher at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.