The XX Factor: What women really think.

Feel-Good Story for a Monday

Selena Roberts has an uplifting column in this week's Sports Illustrated. Her subject is a girls high school basketball player in Massachusetts who broke Rebecca Lobo's state career scoring record, scored 51 of her team's 57 points in their final game this season, and earned a scholarship to Memphis next season. All interesting stuff, but what warrants this player primo real estate in SI? Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir "is expected to become the first Islamic player in NCAA Division I history to take the basketball in full [Muslim] dress," including a head scarf next season.

Abdul-Qaadir doesn't shroud herself in a burqa, but she does cover her arms and legs underneath her uniform—she's ever-grateful for Under Armour, she says—and, far worse, she endured taunts of "terrorist" early in her career.

What strikes me about her is not just how she's accomplished so much in the face of such challenges but how grounded she is. She's happy to answer sincere questions about her religion; just don't ask her if she's wearing a tablecloth on her head. (I watched this video of her breaking the scoring record, and, while her "full dress" doesn't look different from what a runner might wear in a late-fall cross country race or early-spring track meet, it's easy to imagine how hard it is to be "different" in high school.)

I'm the first to admit that I'm a little bit sexist as a sports fan. I've been to a handful of WNBA games, and I usually at least pay mild attention to the women's Final Four, but my autumn Saturdays are spent finding the best football game on my cable package, and I'll spend hours researching my March Madness bracket. But I'll be checking in on Bilquis when she takes the court next season.