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Frazee triplets a package that gives Liberty women's team reason to say 'amen'
BY VIC DORR JR.
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 12, 2006
LYNCHBURG -- With all due respect to Francis Scott Key, the final verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner" seems somehow inappropriate when applied to the Liberty University women's basketball team.
The "land of the free"? The Flames' roster more closely resembles the land of the three. After all, it includes what is believed to be the only set of identical triplets in Division I women's basketball: 6-3 sophomores Megan, Molly and Moriah Frazee. The three have lived entwined lives for 19½ years and have played together since fifth grade.
Imagining one without the others is akin to imagining, well, Curly without Larry and Moe . . . which sometimes is not a good thing.
"People who don't know us tend to refer to us or speak to us just as 'the triplets,'" Moriah said. "They'll see us on campus and they'll say,'Oh -- there go the triplets.' Or,'Hi, triplets. What's up?' I guess it's a lot easier to do that than it is to tell us apart."
None is altogether fond of this generic packaging. But all understand and accept it.
"I've thought about it," Molly said. "And I have to admit, if I was in their position and I saw the three of us coming, I'd probably do the same thing myself."
Understandably so. Even though they dress differently and favor different hairstyles, the three are confoundingly similar in appearance, inflection and mannerisms. The best way to tell them apart might be with a yardstick: Molly is ever-so-slightly shorter than her siblings.
Being routinely perceived not as an individual but as one-third of a band of sisters "can be a little annoying at times if you let it," Molly said.
She and her sisters try not to let it, Molly said, because "what we have is special and unique, and we know it. Believe me: It's a gift. It's something we appreciate very much."
What, exactly, do they have? An uncommonly strong bond, to be sure. It's a bond that is rooted in affection, parallel experience and the eerie sensation of seeing your own face each time you look at a sibling. Still, as strong as it is, the bond is not mystical.
"People always ask about that," Moriah said. "They always want to know if we finish each other's sentences and things like that." She shook her head. "We don't -- not really."
Molly agreed. "There's no telepathy, if that's what you mean. It's more a case of, if you've been around somebody almost every day for 20 years, and you've shared a bedroom for a lot of those years . . . then sure, pretty soon you're going to be able to understand and anticipate that person pretty well."
Molly answered quickly when asked to identify the biggest advantage to membership in this exclusive sorority. "That's easy: I never have to go very far to find my two best friends."
Megan -- predictably, perhaps -- said much the same thing: "I don't think I could go to sleep at night if I knew [Moriah and/or Molly] were upset with me."
Some sister acts are best described as sideshows. Not this one. The Frazees will play a central role in Liberty's pursuit of an 11th consecutive Big South championship in 2007.
They combined to average 30.1 points and 16.8 rebounds as freshmen. Megan posted shimmering numbers (18.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg) before being shelved by a knee injury in January. So impressed were Big South coaches by Megan's performance and potential that they bestowed a rare compliment upon her last month: They chose her as the league's preseason player of the year despite her participation in only two conference games as a freshman.
Megan, the oldest of the three by a few minutes, seems to have been destined from the beginning for conspicuous success as an athlete. She was the first to walk, the first to ride a bicycle and the first to enjoy the sensation of tossing a ball through a hoop.
"I got my first basketball when I was 2," she said. As a youngster, "I always wanted to be running around, playing with our older brother [Zeb, a junior at Liberty].
"A lot of girls are really into dolls at that age. Molly and Moriah were a little more into that sort of thing than I was. Me? I just wanted to be outside, playing sports."
The three followed a long and winding road to Liberty. They were born in Laredo, Texas, to parents who worked as educators and volunteer Christian missionaries on the Texas-Mexican border.
The family moved to South Dakota and then to Xenia, a town just southeast of Dayton, Ohio.
The triplets, basketball luminaries at Xenia Christian High School, carried two objectives into the recruiting process: They wanted to remain together, and they wanted to do so at a Christian college. So serious were they about both goals that they would happily have enrolled at Cedarville, an NAIA school about 15 minutes from Xenia, had Liberty not come calling.
"A lot of people look solely at athletics" when choosing a college, Molly said. "We didn't do that. Was sports was important to us? Yes. Sure. But other things were more important. We wanted a Christian education. We wanted to be surrounded by people who understand and support what we believe."
Frazee triplets a package that gives Liberty women's team reason to say 'amen'
BY VIC DORR JR.
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 12, 2006
LYNCHBURG -- With all due respect to Francis Scott Key, the final verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner" seems somehow inappropriate when applied to the Liberty University women's basketball team.
The "land of the free"? The Flames' roster more closely resembles the land of the three. After all, it includes what is believed to be the only set of identical triplets in Division I women's basketball: 6-3 sophomores Megan, Molly and Moriah Frazee. The three have lived entwined lives for 19½ years and have played together since fifth grade.
Imagining one without the others is akin to imagining, well, Curly without Larry and Moe . . . which sometimes is not a good thing.
"People who don't know us tend to refer to us or speak to us just as 'the triplets,'" Moriah said. "They'll see us on campus and they'll say,'Oh -- there go the triplets.' Or,'Hi, triplets. What's up?' I guess it's a lot easier to do that than it is to tell us apart."
None is altogether fond of this generic packaging. But all understand and accept it.
"I've thought about it," Molly said. "And I have to admit, if I was in their position and I saw the three of us coming, I'd probably do the same thing myself."
Understandably so. Even though they dress differently and favor different hairstyles, the three are confoundingly similar in appearance, inflection and mannerisms. The best way to tell them apart might be with a yardstick: Molly is ever-so-slightly shorter than her siblings.
Being routinely perceived not as an individual but as one-third of a band of sisters "can be a little annoying at times if you let it," Molly said.
She and her sisters try not to let it, Molly said, because "what we have is special and unique, and we know it. Believe me: It's a gift. It's something we appreciate very much."
What, exactly, do they have? An uncommonly strong bond, to be sure. It's a bond that is rooted in affection, parallel experience and the eerie sensation of seeing your own face each time you look at a sibling. Still, as strong as it is, the bond is not mystical.
"People always ask about that," Moriah said. "They always want to know if we finish each other's sentences and things like that." She shook her head. "We don't -- not really."
Molly agreed. "There's no telepathy, if that's what you mean. It's more a case of, if you've been around somebody almost every day for 20 years, and you've shared a bedroom for a lot of those years . . . then sure, pretty soon you're going to be able to understand and anticipate that person pretty well."
Molly answered quickly when asked to identify the biggest advantage to membership in this exclusive sorority. "That's easy: I never have to go very far to find my two best friends."
Megan -- predictably, perhaps -- said much the same thing: "I don't think I could go to sleep at night if I knew [Moriah and/or Molly] were upset with me."
Some sister acts are best described as sideshows. Not this one. The Frazees will play a central role in Liberty's pursuit of an 11th consecutive Big South championship in 2007.
They combined to average 30.1 points and 16.8 rebounds as freshmen. Megan posted shimmering numbers (18.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg) before being shelved by a knee injury in January. So impressed were Big South coaches by Megan's performance and potential that they bestowed a rare compliment upon her last month: They chose her as the league's preseason player of the year despite her participation in only two conference games as a freshman.
Megan, the oldest of the three by a few minutes, seems to have been destined from the beginning for conspicuous success as an athlete. She was the first to walk, the first to ride a bicycle and the first to enjoy the sensation of tossing a ball through a hoop.
"I got my first basketball when I was 2," she said. As a youngster, "I always wanted to be running around, playing with our older brother [Zeb, a junior at Liberty].
"A lot of girls are really into dolls at that age. Molly and Moriah were a little more into that sort of thing than I was. Me? I just wanted to be outside, playing sports."
The three followed a long and winding road to Liberty. They were born in Laredo, Texas, to parents who worked as educators and volunteer Christian missionaries on the Texas-Mexican border.
The family moved to South Dakota and then to Xenia, a town just southeast of Dayton, Ohio.
The triplets, basketball luminaries at Xenia Christian High School, carried two objectives into the recruiting process: They wanted to remain together, and they wanted to do so at a Christian college. So serious were they about both goals that they would happily have enrolled at Cedarville, an NAIA school about 15 minutes from Xenia, had Liberty not come calling.
"A lot of people look solely at athletics" when choosing a college, Molly said. "We didn't do that. Was sports was important to us? Yes. Sure. But other things were more important. We wanted a Christian education. We wanted to be surrounded by people who understand and support what we believe."
Contact staff writer Vic Dorr Jr. at vdorr@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6442.
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PAmedic wrote:you're absolutely right
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