Don’t let her quiet demeanor fool you, Torilynn Boyd is at Sac State to play some basketball. As a 22 year- old power forward for the Sac State women’s basketball team and a senior majoring in psychology, Torilynn Boyd has a lot on her plate. Especially now that she has taken on the role of captain of the team. An honor bestowed upon her by her teammates.

“The team decided to make me the captain,” Boyd said, “I love to be an example, I love to be a leader.”

Last season Boyd didn’t have a chance to participate on the court, she had to redshirt due to a shoulder injury.

“I have a partial dislocation in my left shoulder and they told me I needed surgery, but it turned out I didn’t,” Boyd said, “That was my focus all summer, strengthening my shoulder.”

According to head coach Carolyn Jenkins the work she did to get ready for this season is starting to pay off.

“I’m very impressed at how she prepared herself after sitting out last season, if she keeps this up she’ll have a very successful year,” Jenkins said.

Now that Boyd is in her third year at Sac State and ready to play, she has a chance to pick up where she left off. In 1998, she led the team in six categories, including field goals (106), field goals attempted (284), blocked shots (14), steals (43) and personal fouls (75) her 1.7 steals per game ranked sixth in the conference.

However, Boyd didn’t always know she wanted to lead a basketball team. When she was in ninth grade her older brother was the only one that played basketball in her family and he convinced her to try it too.

“My brother’s science teacher told him I should play, and I didn’t play any sports at the time,” Boyd said. “He just figured if my brother was so good, I could be too.”

And he was right.

At Redlands High School in southern California, Boyd played four seasons of basketball and earned all-league honors in 1996. After graduation, however, she wasn’t sure if she would go on to college at all.

“Coming out of high school I didn’t want to leave home and the coach at San Bernadino said to come play,” Boyd said.

Though Boyd had started her career in junior college basketball she had no idea how far it would take her. As she was playing the last game of the season at San Bernadino Valley Junior College, a former Sac State coach was so impressed by her talent that he wanted to sign her to his program. Unfortunately he didn’t have enough scholarships left, so he placed a call to the Sac State coaches and told them to sign her.

“Sac State came out and saw me and they signed me,” Boyd said.

And now Sac State has also signed a new coach. In a situation like this one, things can get messy between a new coach and veteran players, but Boyd insists that is not the case at all.

“She is by far the best coach I’ve had in my basketball career,” Boyd said. “She’s strict but she takes care of us with our grades, workouts and food. She makes sure we have it all. I respect her a lot. She’s tough but she makes you want to play…we need that.”

When Boyd says “we” she’s talking about her teammates, the ladies she spends most of her days with, the ones she affectionately refers to as her “family.”

“I can talk about anything to any one of them and they can talk to me about anything, that’s how we work,” Boyd said. “They’re my family.”

A family so close-knit that after her graduation in fall 2001 Boyd is thinking of staying in the Sacramento Valley.

“I love Sacramento, I love the people and the environment,” Boyd said. “But the only reason I’d stay is my teammates.”

But for now Boyd is staying right where she is because she has an example to set for her “family” of teammates. Coach Jenkins has a lot of faith in her captain’s ability to lead.

“She leads by example,” Jenkins said, “She doesn’t say much but when she does it’s meaningful and people listen.”