Monica Brooks is recognizable on the court as the only senior on the basketball team, standing at 6’1” as a center. Brooks has exceptional dribbling, shooting and defensive skill, and has been with the Mavericks since 2020.
Outside of basketball, Brooks is a graduate student studying sports management. Her hometown is Shawnee, Oklahoma and she attended high school there before going to Central Community College. She enjoys reading books, watching TV and playing video games in her free time. Brooks stated that her favorite show is currently One Tree Hill “because it’s mainly about basketball.”
Brooks’ favorite book so far has been “Finding Me,” an autobiography by Viola Davis. This follows Davis’ story and how she won an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and two Tony Awards. She is also the only African-American to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
Head Coach Taylor Wagner spoke briefly about Brooks as a player.
“She’s a sweetheart, she is just one of the players that is calm, funny and a great teammate. She’s really talented. [Brooks is] one of our post players, but she’s one of our better shooters from the perimeter as well. She can score all over the court and she’s pretty scrappy in the post and can get her own shot in there,” Wagner said.
Along with her hobbies, Brooks has had an exceptional career in basketball.
Brooks started her journey with basketball in second grade, when she joined in order to play with her friends. From there, she fell in love with the sport and plans to continue that passion by becoming a basketball coach. Brooks plans on starting at the high school level and moving up to collegiate coaching in the future.
Before moving to Colorado, she played for Central Community College in Nebraska. There, she averaged 16.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. In the 2022-23 season, she had already earned 99 points for the Mavericks and throughout her career at Colorado Mesa University (CMU), she has scored a grand total of 355 points. She is contributing all around this season, averaging 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per showing
“Defensively, she just gets it. She gets positioning, she gets how hard she has to guard in the post position and then offensively, she’s just getting more comfortable. She’s always been a good scorer. Filling her role [as the only senior] is the biggest thing and knowing what her role is, and the shoes are a lot bigger than it’s been two previous years,” Wagner said.
Brooks’ career high was 19 points in a single game. Last season, she had her first career double-double at Adams State University (ASU) in which she scored 16 points and collected 11 rebounds.
“[My favorite part of basketball] is the memories and friendships you create along the way. I made a lot of friends in Nebraska, and then here too, that’s the best part. You also grow a lot as an individual,” Brooks said.
There are 18 regular games left in the season, with the next occurring Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. in Brownson Arena against ASU. Senior night will be held on Feb. 22 and the game will start at 5:30 p.m. against Westminster College.
