“I am at a pickleball tournament that I’m commentating,” said on-air reporter and commentator Lawrencia Moten, 27, about her summer schedule. “I’m embracing pickleball because that’s all year-round. I’m doing it for APP TV (Association of Pickleball Players).”
College football season is at hand, and she will again serve as a sideline reporter. On Sept. 19, Moten returns to the air for HBCU Go, a media provider for the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Her first game of the season is Tennessee State at Florida A&M. The biggest game she’ll cover this season is Oct. 3, Howard versus Hampton for HU bragging rights.
Moten returned to her roots this summer as a reporter for ESPN, doing courtside interviews for the sports network’s digital platform during the WNBA All-Star Game. “I was so excited to be a part of that,” said Moten. “I’m [also] an ESPN basketball analyst specifically for the WNBA. I’ve been back and forth to ESPN headquarters. I do a show called ‘WNBA Hoops Streams.’ Every two weeks we go over the biggest storylines in the W.”
While Moten loves working in basketball, a game she played at the college level, it has also taken on a distinctly emotional element. Last September, her father, Lawrence Moten, Syracuse University’s all-time leading scorer and a former NBA player, passed away suddenly at the age of 53 due to a heart attack.
“We’re going to build a park in his name in Syracuse,” she said. “Helping the youth and giving them an outlet was always his mission. Washington, D.C. (where he was raised and had relocated just before his death) is going to name a street after him. There is a park near where he grew up that he had played at when he was younger.”
Moten’s parents took her to Washington Mystics games growing up. She played Division I college hoops before focusing her energies on broadcasting, and she has played with some current WNBA players. “I approach journalism with the perspective that obviously I’m breaking the news, but it’s always with care,” said Moten.
College basketball season is on the horizon, and Moten is hoping to cover college action, having previously called women’s and men’s games for HBCU Go. “That’s the goal,” she said.
