Straughn rising senior Brittany Driver said if it wasn’t for God, she wouldn’t have the opportunity to play with the South squad at the 2012 All-Star Girls Basketball game tonight in Montgomery.

Driver said she is nervous about tonight’s game, but at the same time, thankful for all that God’s helped her accomplish.

“I know I’m nervous, but the biggest thing to me is that God put me down here, and He made it possible for me to be here,” Driver said. “Even though winning is important, and playing well for the coaches here is also important, the main thing to me is just that I play for Him.

“That’s the first priority,” she said.

Driver joins a South squad that are a lot smaller in size compared to the North squad, she said.

“We’re not very big,” she said. “The North is just a lot bigger and stronger.”

Driver said her team will utilize its speed and passing game as big keys in the game.

“Even though they are bigger, they’re slower, I think,” she said. “Our coach wants us to run the ball, and even double down with the big girls down low.”

In her junior year, Driver averaged 15.6 points per game, 11 rebounds per game, 2.4 assists per game and scored 453 total points for the Lady Tigers. She had 99 steals, and had 13 double-doubles.

Driver said she made the trek to Montgomery for the All-Star game on Monday, where she said she practiced with the South squad for the first time.

Even though playing with and meeting a new team of faces can be challenging, she said God’s taken care of that.

“I think God’s helped me through it,” Driver said. “I’ve never really seen anything like this. Not really knowing anybody, I was nervous about it.

“People at home are praying for me,” she said. “I just think that it’s not a coincidence that all of us have clicked on and off the court.”

She said that she plays better when she gets along well with her teammates.

“When I’m close to my teammates, everything goes better,” Driver said. “We’re ready to show the South we’re going to win. The North has beaten us 13 times, and we’ve won two times. So, we’re ready to change that to three.

“Everybody’s going to have to give their hardest, and box out and do everything they can for us to win,” she said.

Opp’s Nisha Stoudemire, also a rising senior, will also play for the South’s squad at the game. Attempts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful.

Game time tonight at Alabama State University’s Acadome is at 6.