Coach, daughter share special bond on and off the court Northern Guilford senior Sami Furlough has been coached by her mother, Kim Furlough, all four years of her high school basketball career. As the No. 1-ranked 3-A girls team in the state heads into the playoffs, the Furloughs agree a Nighthawks state championship would be the ‘cherry on top’ of their unique experience.
by MARC PRUITT The boundaries of the motherdaughter relationship for Kim and Sami Furlough extend well beyond the home they live in. For the last four years, those boundaries have also included the 84-foot length of a basketball court. Kim Furlough is the head girls’ basketball coach at Northern Guilford
High School. Sami Furlough is one of the team captains this season and has been a starter on the team throughout her high school basketball career.
It may seem complicated about where the lines are drawn in distinguishing certain ground rules about the player-coach and mom-daughter relationships, but it isn’t complicated to the Furloughs. “Her freshman year, we had to figure out where those lines were,” Kim Furlough said. “We had to figure out that we needed to leave basketball stuff here and not bring it home. Good game, bad game, it doesn’t matter.” Like any great player, Sami concurred with her coach. “It’s been fun and interesting for sure,” Sami Furlough said. “It’s best that we don’t have any tension at the dinner table. Other than maybe watching film with her at home, we leave basketball in the gym.”
supposed to be. She knows what I want and she vocalizes that on the court so well.” That’s not to say it has always been rainbows and unicorns for Sami. If she messes up, she hears about it.
the roster played on that team, so Kim worked on developing them for high school basketball once they got to ninth grade. She admits she kept an extra eye on Sami’s development. “Watching her evolve those two years on the AAU team, I thought she was going to be something special,” Kim said.
“She’s been solid since she hit the floor as a freshman. She’s been starting for four years and she’s just kind of the glue that keeps us together. She knows all the plays. She knows where everybody’s
“She’s gotten her fair share,” Kim said. A few feet away, Sami interjects. “Definitely,” she says with a slight laugh. “She’s just like anybody else,” Kim continues. “If she’s not doing what she’s supposed to be doing, she’s going to hear about it. If she’s doing great, she’ll get the praises too. I don’t think any of the players think she’s been treated any differently.” Sami said she never expected that she would have it any easier than anyone else on the team just because she is the coach’s daughter, but also doesn’t feel any extra pressure because of it.
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Kim has been the coach at Northern since the school opened in January 2008, and Sami has always been around, even serving as the team’s water girl in fifth grade. “The girls on the team were the coolest people and they were so good,” Sami said. “I just wanted to be like them when I got up here.” Kim started and coached an AAU team when Sami was in seventh grade. Most of the current Northern players on Photo by Marc Pruitt/NWO
Northern Guilford head girls varsity basketball coach Kim Furlough (left) and daughter Sami have shared a unique coachdaughter experience for the last four years.
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FEB. 24 - MARCH 2, 2017
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