Oklahoma State University Athletics
Another Year, Another Step
Story by Ryan Cameron
for POSSE Magazine (Winter 2021)
For Oklahoma State's Natasha Mack, her love affair with basketball can be traced all the way back to the time she took her first steps growing up in a sports-crazed family.
“Everybody in my family played some type of sport. Both of my parents played basketball so I grew up with a basketball in my hands from the time I could walk,” Mack said. “I played a little bit of volleyball and was good at that too, but basketball always had my heart.
“Basketball and I are lifelong partners.”
As a fourth grader, Mack and her classmates were given a writing assignment to detail what they wanted to do for an occupation.
“It was a class project where everybody had to write a page about what they wanted to be when they grew up, and mine was all about the WNBA. I always had that vision, and when I got to my junior year of high school, I started to feel like I could play in college and maybe beyond,” Mack said.
After all, Mack spent her formative years watching the league’s first dynasty, the Houston Comets, win the first four championships in WNBA history. All the while, Mack envisioned herself competing at the sport’s highest level and cutting down the nets like her childhood heroes.
During that junior season at Lufkin (Texas) High School, Mack’s stock soared as she found her way onto the ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 list as a four-star prospect in the class of 2016. As a result, her phone buzzed constantly with college coaches lighting up the line.
Like any relationship, she and the game have had plenty of ups and downs. Between her junior and senior seasons, Mack’s dream would reach its first potential derailment when her zest for the game disappeared and she walked away from the hardwood. After a brief hiatus, she returned for her senior season and determined her destination would be the University of Houston.
“I was burned out and thought I was done. I cut the list of colleges, but Houston still checked on me to make sure I was doing ok while other schools stopped calling. When I got back into basketball, I thought I would just go to Houston because they still cared,” Mack explained.
However, she quickly realized she had not found the proper fit. Without having ever suited up for the Cougars, Mack left the program — and for the time being, basketball — behind that December.
“I didn’t fit in and didn’t feel comfortable. I thought it wasn’t for me so I quit and got a job,” Mack said.
With basketball in her rearview mirror, Mack returned home and found employment at Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the nation’s largest chicken producers, processing poultry. Loosely translated, she spent her workday removing the wings from chickens — a far cry from her time as one of the nation’s most sought-after post players.
Early in the summer of 2017, Angelina College assistant coach Randy McKelvey entered the picture.
A native of Lufkin himself, McKelvey had long known of the local legend, and his curiosity was piqued when he saw Mack in their hometown instead of on campus in Houston. Upon learning of her situation, he took to social media to gauge her interest in a return to basketball.
“I reached out to her on Facebook, and she responded. I got her to come up to the gym, and we kind of talked about playing basketball. She still wasn’t sure because she was working and was living on her own and accruing bills and things of that nature,” McKelvey said.
“I told her, you can still have things taken care of and a place to stay, and you can play the game you love and be successful. She said she would think about it.”
After Mack contacted McKelvey and he continued to explain the opportunities in front of her, hesitance still remained.
“She called back and said she didn’t know if the time was right so I let her know it was an opportunity to get back on track with basketball because her potential is so great. I told her she was good enough to make a living with it, and I believed in her.”
Despite her future mentor’s continual presentation of a potential roadmap for her future, Mack was not yet sold.
“It wasn’t a simple process. She said she wouldn’t come at first, she didn’t think it was the time and didn’t think she could do it,” McKelvey said.
With that in mind, McKelvey turned his attention elsewhere.
“Honestly, I deleted her number out of my phone. That was my recruiting philosophy. I don’t really beg kids to do anything. We are going to let you know what we can do for you and then we are going to move on to the next one,” he said.
A month later, and with Mack no longer on the radar, an unfamiliar number popped up on McKelvey’s phone.
“I didn’t have her number saved in my phone so I had to act like I lost my phone. I asked who it was. She told me and asked if the offer was still on the table and that she was ready to come to Angelina,” McKelvey recalled.
“From then it was on.”
The next day, McKelvey paid Mack a visit at Pilgrim’s Pride and signed her to a scholarship over her lunch break. Within a week, she wrapped up her duties at the plant and checked into a dorm ready to resume her basketball journey.
Why the change of heart? Her love of the game.
“I started to think about it a lot and thinking about whether I really wanted to be stuck working in that plant cutting chicken wings the rest of my life or be in school, hooping and doing what I love,” Mack said.
“The whole year off, I didn’t think about basketball until I talked to Coach Randy, and I realized he had a point. I thought about it over and over and realized I missed hooping. It is the love of my life so I had to get back to it.
“I don’t want to do something I don’t love for the rest of my life.”
With Mack’s love for the game rekindled, not only did she change the course for her future, she took the Lady Roadrunner program to heights it had never before reached.
“I called (head coach Byron Coleman) immediately when she committed and said, ’Are you ready to win a championship?’ He asked what I was talking about, and I told him Tasha Mack just committed,” McKelvey said.
With Mack leading the way, McKelvey’s prophecy materialized with the program claiming the first conference championship in school history.
In the process, Mack became the most decorated player in school history. Year one, saw the 6-foot-4 double-double machine named the Region XIV Freshman of the Year while earning second-team All-America status.
There was no sophomore slump as Mack elevated her game to the tune of 23.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game while being named the national junior college player of the year. She rewrote the school’s record book in the process after setting single-season marks in scoring, rebounds and blocks. She also departed as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,471 points.
While heavily decorated, Mack says the junior college route was challenging, but essential, in positioning her to achieve her goals.
“When they say you survive the JUCO route, you are tough. You don’t have all the support you have at the Division I level,” Mack said. “It wasn’t easy, but it was a great experience and helped me mentally.”
Mack once again found herself at the center of schools’ recruiting focus from coast to coast. This time around, she was better prepared to deal with the stress of finding the right fit after enlisting the help of McKelvey.
“The second time I was smarter, I let my coaches go through it so I could focus on basketball and school,” Mack explained. “Afterward, I started talking to coaches to see where I fit in. It wasn’t as bad as the first time around.”
Because of the bonds already built with McKelvey, Mack leaned on him to help navigate the chaos which comes with being a coveted prospect.
“She let me talk to a lot of the people because it was crazy. One of the things I told her before she made her decision was that you are going to be successful no matter where you go,” McKelvey said.
Once again, McKelvey proved to be right. Fortunately for Cowgirl fans, that destination became Stillwater. And just like a return to basketball did not seem likely at times, the chances of Mack winding up at OSU were equally bleak. While the Cowgirl program did make Mack’s top five, it trailed her top four choices — until she reluctantly decided to visit campus.
“OSU was at the bottom, but coach told me to take a trip because I might like it. I didn’t know about Oklahoma, but I took the visit, and when I got to campus it was amazing. I had the best experience and it felt like family right off the bat, and I wasn’t even family yet,” Mack said.
“I thought, ‘Oklahoma is doing it like this?’ After that, OSU topped everybody.”
While on her recruiting trip, a visit to a restaurant opened her eyes to exactly what Stillwater had to offer.
“When she was on her visit, she went to a local restaurant and all the people in there knew the players and knew their names and spoke to them. She said she liked that environment and type of feeling in the community,” McKelvey said.
That close-knit community has loved her back, leaving the senior with only one regret about choosing OSU.
“It has been amazing, I have loved it, and I wish I could have given everybody here four years. The people are great, and I have just really connected with everybody,” Mack said.
The comfort level with Stillwater and OSU head coach Jim Littell’s program undoubtedly helped Mack’s transition. She immediately settled into a prominent role and produced the eye-popping numbers McKelvey always believed were possible.
“I am really big on trust, and that holds a lot of weight. Coach Littell, I feel like we go way back. That is my guy right there, and I respect him so much. He keeps his word, and he says what he means,” Mack said.
A month into her Cowgirl career, Mack set the program’s single-game mark with 23 rebounds before needing just 21 games to establish OSU’s single-season mark for blocked shots. In spite of missing almost four full games due to injury, Mack finished seventh nationally with 19 double-doubles, third with her 12.5 rebounds per contest and sixth with her 96 blocks. For her efforts, she was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, a second-team all-league pick and a member of its all-defensive team.
If you think Mack is satisfied, think again. With the game she walked away from twice having been taken from her abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic last spring, Mack knows unfinished business awaits.
“It burns. When do I get to do this again? When I do, I have to be better and do it the right way. It definitely puts a chip on your shoulder,” Mack said.
Despite the challenges faced due to those unforeseen circumstances, Mack returned to the OSU campus this fall ready to hit the ground running, in large part due to the initiative and encouragement of her older brother, Serrick Lee.
After Mack returned home in March, Lee refused to let the obstacles presented by the pandemic serve as an excuse for complacency. With training facilities unavailable, opportunity presented itself in the form of a recently cleared five-acre plot next to his home.
“When the quarantine happened, and as soon as I saw her, I told her I couldn’t be your brother and let you get lazy and ruin the opportunity you have. She understood. And so we started to put in the work,” Lee said.
Leaning on his experience as a three-sport standout in football, basketball and track at Chapel Hill High School in Texas, Lee implemented a rigorous six-day-a-week plan. With logs from the neighboring land serving as the centerpiece of Lee’s regimen, Mack went through the gauntlet of a mile run, weighted lunges, shoulder presses, bench press, curls, squats and box jumps, all with the freshly cut lumber serving as the weights.
Additionally, the siblings would go through basketball workouts three times a week with one-on-one, top-of-the-key and low block drills as the focal point. Each workout would conclude with 100 jumpers and 10 consecutive made free throws.
“When she went Division I, she said she wanted to take over, and I believed every bit of it because we compete in everything we do. We can be playing a game or we can be outside playing cards, that is what we do is compete. It doesn’t matter who our opponent is,” Lee explained.
While Mack appreciates the opportunity and time dedicated by her brother, he has been equally grateful for the chance to help in the pursuit of her dream.
“I couldn’t be prouder of her. For everything that has gone on and then for her to end up being in quarantine and standing up right beside me, it was a blessing. I took that as we are going to put in work, and I am not going to let her fail,” Lee said.
As she prepares for her senior season, Mack wants a shot at a different type of March Madness than the one she experienced in 2020. With eyes on a berth in the NCAA tournament, she is also aware of her place among the top 10 in preseason WNBA mock drafts, and she has taken a mature approach with her lifelong dream in sight.
“I watch the WNBA every chance I get, but I still have a lot of work to do before I get to that point and that humbles me. When the time comes, the time comes,” Mack said.
“I always try to look at the big picture with everything.”
While the story is far from finished, McKelvey knows it is already one worthy of being told.
“Just look at where she is now. I knew one day this type of story was going to be written because it is an inspirational story about never giving up and always trying to stay consistent, live your dream and being the best person you can be,” McKelvey said.
“Good things happen to good people.”
