STARKVILLE — Kendra Grant hopes she can keep the feeling.
As shooters go, the Mississippi State freshman looks the part. She steps into her shots and has solid form and follow through to hit nothing but the bottom of the net from 3-point range.
But the adjustment from high school to Division I college basketball forces even the most talented players to take a moment to realize what they need to do to survive a more physical and intense brand of competition.
Now into her third month as a college player, it is time for Grant to emerge as the player the MSU women’s basketball team knows she can be.
Grant scored a career-high 13 points Friday in a 71-57 victory against Southern Mississippi at Humphrey Coliseum. She scored eight points in only eight minutes in the first half due to foul problems. Despite only shooting 3 of 11 from the field, including 2 of 7 from 3-point range, Grant went 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. Entering the game, Grant was 3 of 6 from the stripe.
“I just need to make sure I am in the right spots at the right time,” Grant said. “There are certain places I have matured.”
Grant hopes to build on that effort at 7 p.m. Monday when MSU plays host to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is fourth on the team in scoring at 6.9 points per game, and is second on the team with 15 3-pointers.
MSU hopes the statistic is a sign Grant is maturing. If it is, the Lady Bulldogs will welcome it because it will give them a third scoring option to join senior guards Diamber Johnson and Porsha Porter.
“I think you have several players on this team who have to say, ‘I have to be that player to do certain things,’ ” MSU coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said. “When Kendra Grant will take a charge, when she will embrace pressure and get off a screen shoulder to shoulder and not mind getting hit and she adjusts to that day in and day out, you’re going to see her game continue to step up.”
Fanning-Otis hopes to have five players scoring in double figures. Johnson (team-high 18.3 ppg.) and Porter (14.8 ppg.) are the only ones at that mark through 10 games. Freshman Martha Alwal is next at 7.2 ppg. With MSU shooting 38.6 percent from the field, more scoring options will help the Lady Bulldogs protect against off shooting nights — like Johnson’s 10-of-28 effort Sunday in a 63-62 loss to Louisiana Tech — from killing the team.
“Kendra Grant hit some great shots early (against Southern Miss) and took the ball to the hole a little bit better and go to the free-throw line,” Fanning-Otis said. “There’s not the All-American on this team, but as coach (Greg Franklin) G says, ‘You guys can be a very special basketball team,’ and they have to have their expectations there.”
Johnson expects Grant to deliver performances like she did Friday the rest of the season. She also hopes Grant can use her scoreless effort against Louisiana Tech as motivation to know she is a crucial part of the team’s success this season.
“What Kendra did is what Kendra is capable of doing every night,” Johnson said. “Kendra needed this night to happen for her (for) that confidence.”
Grant feels she has made strides, especially on defense, since the beginning of the season. Even though she is still shooting only a shade above 28 percent, she has shown more movement toward the baskets to make defenses pay for coming out hard against her. Now she needs to begin to show the consistency MSU (8-2) needs if it is going to prove it can finish higher than where the Southeastern Conference coaches and media picked it in the preseason to finish (11th).
“She is out there in the starting lineup and we’re getting her plenty of shots,” Johnson said. “Anything less than that, I am not saying it is bad, but anything less than 10 (points) is below her potential. It is just confidence. She has been in there working hard in the gym and stuff, but when you go through struggles — I know, I have been there — it starts to play with your mind. Hopefully, this helped her, but we do need that extra to help us out consistently.”
Fanning-Otis said she and the coaches are trying to teach Grant how to play with the aggressiveness she showed in the first part of the first half. She said she is doing a little bit better on the defensive end, but she said there is more work to go through the process.
“She is listening and she is trying to work hard,” Fanning-Otis said. “I see improvement. As she gets her endurance and toughness and understanding as she gets into league games, it is still going to be a process, but she is a very coachable young lady and wants to get it right. I think the odds for a person like that to improve are very good.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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