When The College of Wooster women's basketball team takes the court, it's unlikely that its opponent's eyes are initially drawn to 5'5" sophomore point guard Samantha Justice. But once she dribbles around a screen or wrestles down a rebound in the paint, she quickly proves that looks can be deceiving.
While her ability to play bigger than her size is surprising, the secret to her success is the real head-turner. Justice, who is listed among the smallest starting players in the North Coast Athletic Conference, is a powerlifter and a bench press champion.
Justice grew up in Michigan where she competed in track and played basketball in high school. When a new physical education teacher came to the school her sophomore year and started a physical conditioning class, Justice decided to give it a shot to see how it could help her athletically. The results came quicker than she had expected.
"I had heard some success stories about people who had worked out using this program, and I thought maybe it could help me as an athlete," Justice said. "Once I got going on it, I think I cut about 30 seconds from my 800 meter run in track, and I noticed I was becoming a better rebounder in basketball."
More importantly, Justice began to enjoy lifting weights, and it wasn't long before her routine became tailored towards powerlifting. Justice joined a club, which her phys-ed teacher coached, and started competing in regional competitions with the Michigan High School Powerlifting Association.
Winners are chosen based on their total combined scores in three lifts – the bench press, squat, and dead lift. Justice placed in all the regional events she participated in and qualified to compete at the state championships. It was there where she dead lifted 315 pounds, and put up 145 pounds on the bench press, with the latter being the state record in her weight class that year.
"Just being in that environment, it really makes you feel like you can do anything," Justice said. "I felt like I could lift anything. It's very empowering, especially since most people don't think girls can do it."
Justice is becoming accustomed to defying the odds. She started at point guard in 70 percent of Wooster's games last season as a first-year player, despite only playing the position for two years in high school.
She ranked second on the team in steals (1.0 spg) and third in assists (1.4 apg) last season, and this year her numbers are up in both categories. Currently, Justice is the only guard on the team averaging above a 40 percent shooting percentage (40.3), and she has worked to add the 3-ball to her repertoire as well (7-of-13).
"When I came to Wooster, I didn't have any expectations. I really didn't expect to play in my first year, let alone start" Justice said. "I worried a little about what the older players on the team thought about me playing so much, but they all assured me I belonged. I think now I have earned my place on the team, I just need to keep working hard."
Along with her dedication to basketball, Justice is busy in the classroom as well, where she currently holds a 3.95 grade point average as a biochemistry major. Following graduation at Wooster, she plans on applying to a Medical Scientist Training Program where she would receive both an M.D. and Ph.D, allowing her to work in a career in medical research.
In the meantime, Justice will continue her duty as the Fighting Scots' point guard, and the team's lifting leader, a position she was given along with classmate Kinsey Walker this season by head coach Lisa Campanell Komara. And while tendonitis in her wrist has put her powerlifting career on hold, Justice hopes to keep raising the bar on the court, where she proves that size isn't everything.