Shea Moore says that she just fell in love with the sport of basketball and doesn’t know why. Whatever the reason was, the 2024 Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame inductee could play the sport at a level often not seen before or after her playing days with the Tanner High School Rattlers girls’ basketball team.

Moore was a five-year starter for Coach Debbie Blakely (a 2005 LCSHOF inductee) at Tanner High School. “I played 4H basketball at Reid Elementary School before moving to Tanner High School. I can remember my first day at Tanner High School. When I was getting off the school bus, Coach Blakely was yelling for me. My nickname was Fatty and she was calling out, where’s Fatty. I don’t know why people called me that name because I wasn’t heavy. Never the less, Coach Blakely and I began a wonderful five-year journey that day,” said Moore.

High level performances were the norm for Moore during her playing days at Tanner High School. She would be named to every all-tournament team in which she participated. As a sophomore, Moore would lead the Rattlers to the 1983 2A state championship as they defeated St. Clair County HS 71-33 in the finals and she was named the state tournament Most Valuable Player. Individually, she was named Limestone County Most Valuable Player, All-Area, All-State and Honorable Mention All-America by USA Today after the season.

During her senior season, Moore would solidify her place as one of the top girls’ basketball players in Limestone County history as she was again named to the All-State Team. An all-around great player, Moore filled up the stats sheet. Moore averaged 25.8 points per game, 12.0 rebounds per game four assists per game and three steals per game during her final year in the Tanner HS program. Her top scoring performance was a school record 58-point effort against Oneonta High School in the first round of the state playoffs. A former high school teammate, Corey Peoples, recalls the historical night and Moore’s impact on Tanner High School girls’ basketball program. “I was a sophomore that season. Shae was a great player but that night, she was unreal.

It seems that every shot she put up, it went in the basket. She couldn’t miss,” said Peoples. “Shea was so talented and played so hard. No one out worked Shae on the basketball court. She never took a play off and was a great leader. She pushed her teammates to be better. She had impeccable instincts and a was a terrific defender.”

Moore says the Tanner High School teams she played on were really good. “Coach Blakely taught us to play with class and respect the uniform we were wearing. We didn’t back down from any team. We were quick and teams had a difficult time handling our press. In fact, we had to scrimmage the boys’ team at Tanner just to find a team that was competitive against our press,” joked Moore.

Her decorated high school career complete, Moore would begin her college career right down the road from Tanner at Calhoun Community College where she would play for coach Nancy Keenum. She broke the two-year scoring record at Calhoun. Moore averaged 18.6 points per game during her freshmen season and 17.0 points per game her sophomore season for the Lady Warhawks. She was twice selected to the All-Division and All-Region teams. “Shea was a member of the first team I coached at Calhoun,” said Keenum. “We were very fortunate to sign her because she had Division 1 talent. Shea was a great player and was very competitive. She played the small forward position for us but she had the talent to play all over the floor. Shea was one of the top five players I ever coached at Calhoun.”

The final stop in her basketball career was at Troy State University where she played for Coach Joyce Sorrell. She started 72 games at Troy State averaging 16.4 points per game. Moore ranked sixth all-time in school history in field goal percentage (Min. 200 made) at 51.0 percent. The 216 field goals she scored during the 1989-90 season were the eighth most field goals scored by a player in a single season.

Moore says that she has a lot of people to thank for being inducted into the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame. “The honor means a lot to me and I have a lot of people that contributed to this award. I had a lot of great teammates during my basketball career. There is no I in team and my teammates contributed a lot to the success I had on the court. I had a lot of great mentors in my life. Johnny Black (a 2016 LCSHOF inductee), was the principal at Tanner High School when I was there. He was great mentor. Coach Blakely, Coach Keenum and Coach Sorrell, they all had a positive influence on me not only as a basketball player but as a young lady,” said Moore.