Throughout her freshman season on the Seymour High School basketball team in Tennessee, fans and media alike referred to the Eagles' budding star as the "younger sister of former Tennessee Volunteer standout Ron Slay."
But even if Christina Slay ends up in orange and white, don't expect that descriptor to last for very long. It's not that she doesn't love her oldest brother -- who currently plays in Italy -- but Christina will make a name for herself with her own standout game, even if she learned much of it from her brother.
"Christina's going to be one of my great ones in the future," Tennessee Flight coach Tom Insell said. "The background she has -- the whole family can play basketball, that's one thing that I enjoy about her is she knows the game. She gets better every time we play."
Christina followed Ron's career closely. He starred in high school in Nashville, spent his senior year at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) and then went on to a solid career at Tennessee, where he was named the SEC Player of the Year as a senior.
"I just want to be like him and get everything that he got," said Christina, a 2012 recruit playing for the Flight's freshman team. "I'm working just as hard as I can to get it. We don't have to do it, but because we're a Slay in Tennessee, it feels like we need to do it."
Christina is one of seven children (five boys and two girls) and was raised by a single mom, Lolita Slay, who is a former college athlete and coach. While all seven of the Slay children are not necessarily college-level athletes, they enjoy playing games together, despite the fact their ages range from 27 to 11.
Only the four youngest siblings remain in the Slay household, but the entire family remains close, no matter what. When Ron returns home between leagues, he takes his sisters to a hoop where he tries to school Christina and younger sister Ashley, a 5-foot-10 seventh-grader.
"It's been interesting listening to Ron and Christina talk, and Ashley, as they start to work their way up in their careers," Lolita said. "He's giving them a lot of advice, mostly about staying humble. You can be excited about the game, but be humble; don't think you're ever bigger than the game or the team. I appreciate that from him."
Ashley is a two-sport athlete, excelling in mom's beloved volleyball as well as basketball, Ashley's preferred sport. Lolita encouraged her daughter to add a little variety, convincing her to try volleyball during the fall of her freshman year. Ashley wasn't a huge fan of the sport, but made her mom happy by trying the sport she played in college for one season.
"We can't live without basketball," Christina said. "Maybe when Ron retires he'll go into coaching or something. We just love the game too much to stop playing."
A love for the game isn't the only aspect of her game that Christina has picked up from her older brother. She even studied his game during his college career, sometimes watching tape with her mom. When they were going over tape of a particular game against Georgia, she noticed how the opposing fans were reacting to her brother's playmaking and told her mother she wanted to make that type of impact.
"That's one of Ron's moments, when he's pissed them off probably," Lolita said. "He feeds off that, and now she does. I told him, 'You created a little Frankenstein. She's just like you; it's scary.'"
