NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WTKR) — Transitions to new environments are difficult for any high schooler. For Menchville girls basketball guard Cyriah Griffin, adapting has been the theme of her senior year.
"At first, it was a hard transition, but I got used to it and I'm in the flow of everything," she said.
After playing most of her highs school career at King's Fork, the senior guard moving to Newport News this past summer, having to completely learn a new team and school in a short amount of time.
"I'm not very vocal, but with this team, I have to be very vocal because it's a lot of younger girls," Griffin said. "And I'm just teaching them the way."
"Even as a new person, you know, she's elected captain of our teammates," said Menchville head coach Adrian Webb. "As as a leader, she's encouraging. She's able to pick them up when they're struggling through things she's able to talk them through a lot of things that go on something
One aspect that's helped the move is the Monarch's state title expectations. Griffin's already felt that success with the Bulldogs in the 2022 Class 4 title game, the same year Menchville won the Class 5 championship.
"You have to put the work in and you can't just dream about it, talk about it, you have to put the work in," she remembered. "And that's what we did that year."
Griffin is a determined person on and off the floor. She's already got an eye on what she wants to study when she gets to college in Richmond.
"I want to be in the nursing program. So I want to either be a traveling nurse or like the medical field in general," she said.
Her play on the floor just as surgical as her future career as she embraces a new path with one more year to make some memories in her new home.
"I'm having so much fun," Griffin said. "This is my last year and I love playing with these girls."
Menchville is out to a to a 12-2 start this season.
