When it comes to girls basketball at Midtown, the Lewis family is the center of attention. With two former players and alumni, Jade and Trinity, having played basketball all four years of high school, junior Briaiah Lewis is looking to make her own mark.

“With basketball I have always just followed my sisters,” Lewis said. “But I want to make a name for myself at Midtown, and I think in the next couple of years I will be able to.”

Lewis began playing basketball when she was four years old, and has continued to play throughout elementary, middle and high school. 

“It was determined before she was even born,” Lewis’ father Dhati Lewis Sr. said. “I played basketball in highschool and I switched over to coaching high school girls basketball the year Jade was born, so when Bri was born, I knew she was going to play basketball.”

The 2020-2021 basketball season was supposed to be a dream come true for Lewis Sr. He would have been able to watch all three of his daughters play together on the court, but COVID-19 interrupted that. 

“It was very sad,” Lewis Sr. said. “Like a lot of parents, we couldn’t go to all the games.” 

Despite the setback, that didn’t stop Lewis Sr. from enjoying the moment.

“There was one game where it was announced starting number 11, number 12, number 13 and they just named each one of the girls,” Dhati Lewis Sr. said. “11 was Bri, 12 was Jade and 13 was Trinity and they just came back to back all Lewis, Lewis, Lewis.”

While Lewis’ first commitment is to basketball, she also plays varsity volleyball in the fall and competes in track in the spring. Lewis plays right side for Midtown and is known to be an encouraging and positive teammate.

“She delivers her communication in an encouraging and non-threatening way,” girls volleyball coach Sandi Stein said. “She’s always very positive, and she’s always looking for a way to get better and a way to help others get better.”

Lewis started participating in discus and shot put for the track team freshman year, with a personal record of 79 feet for discus and 31 feet ten inches for shot put. Lewis placed fifth in the region for shot put last year.

“It was really exciting,” Lewis said. “I had been working hard to get fourth so I was a little disappointed, but I was constantly breaking my personal record, so I was proud.”

Lewis is known to be a supportive player, who’s a powerhouse on the basketball court.

“She is very defensive minded and aggressive on the defensive end,” former basketball coach Roderick Hill said. “She’s very energetic on the court, and she’ll run through a wall for you.”

Hill has known and coached Lewis since fifth grade. Hill coached girls basketball at Inman Middle School and later at Midtown for three years, and admires Lewis’ ability to be a multisport athlete.

“She has added a lot, and has put a lot of time and equity into competing,” Hill said. “It’s a lot of late nights, early mornings, and being a two, three sport athlete is challenging, so kudos to her.”

On top of being a multisport athlete, Lewis excels academically, attending dual enrollment classes at Atlanta Metropolitan State College while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

“Some classes I was going to have to take this year anyways,” Lewis said. “So I thought I might as well take them as college classes and make it so it counts for both college and high school.”

Lewis is currently taking four dual enrollment classes, setting herself up for post-high school plans.

“My parents always told me that I am going to have to pay for college myself, and I know dual enrollment is free, so it’s a chance for me to get free classes and not have to pay for them,” Lewis said. 

Lewis has faced serious injuries that have set back her athletic career. She tore her Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) in eighth grade and re-strained it freshman year, also suffering a concussion midway through her freshman year and a back injury at the beginning of this season.

“As an injured player, you can’t just be thrown back in the game, even when you’re fully ok,” Lewis said. “So it was extremely frustrating to be injured, and having to wait it out to recover.”

The Knights season ended in the Elite Eight this year. Lewis is proud of the team’s commitment and effort to the season.

“I was really impressed with how we did this year,” Lewis said. “The whole team was very young, as we had no seniors, so no one expected us to make it as far as we did. But if we were this good this year, we can definitely be better next year.”