Jenkins Leading the Way in Freshman Season
2/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Scott Latta
UA Media Relations
Tierney Jenkins was used to dominating.
As a two-time Tennessee Sportswriters Association first team All-State honoree and 2006 state tournament MVP, she was used to being bigger, faster and better than the other girls on the court.
But then she got to Alabama, and that quickly stopped. Suddenly, there were six other girls just on her own team that were as tall or taller than she was, and the dominating, at least at first, was put on hold.
“The speed was tough, but here also the players are just as good as you,” Jenkins said. “In high school you can kind of dominate but here they’re just as tall or just as strong. The competition was way different. It’s a lot harder.
“When we started conditioning it was like, hey, welcome to college. Weights I can handle but running is completely different for me. In pre-season we run every day, all day.”
Though there were adjustments to be made, for Jenkins it didn’t take long for the Mt. Juliet, Tenn. native to pick back up on the success of her high school days. Through Alabama’s first 19 games, Jenkins is the team’s overall leading scorer and is quickly becoming one of the group’s leaders both on and off the floor.
“I think as we rebuild our program we are going to have to rely on our freshmen until we get back on track,” Alabama coach Stephany Smith said. “To some degree we rely on our freshmen every year. Tierney isn’t our lead scorer every night but she has the ability to put points on the board and her teammates do a good job of getting her the ball and putting her in good positions.”
Jenkins is averaging almost 12 points per game after a non-conference season during which she lead the team in scoring in six games, including three consecutive games, when she contributed 10 points against Arkansas State, 16 points against Eastern Michigan and 21 points in a win against Washington State. Her hot streak also included a 29-point performance in an overtime win against Hampton, Dec. 20.
As Alabama entered conference play, however, Jenkins’ production slowed as the Tide’s competition got better. Her points have gone down (6.8 per game), as well as her field goal percentage, free throw percentage and rebounds per game.
Much of that, Smith said, can be attributed to Alabama’s tough conference schedule and the high level of play in the SEC.
“The pace of the game is one of the greatest changes from high school to college, but it happens again when we switch from non-conference to conference play,” Smith said. “Where we are rebuilding a program we are just now opening the door to new chapters of game situations, focusing on situations coming out of huddles with free throw shooting and handling all these different situations at once. They’re big adjustments.”
Jenkins came to Alabama based partially on her knowledge of Smith’s turnaround of the Middle Tennessee State basketball program, where she coached before coming to Tuscaloosa in 2005. Also coming in to play was Alabama’s promise of early playing time during the rebuilding process of the program ?? an advantage that, at least through the first half of the Tide’s season, Jenkins capitalized on more than any other freshman on the team.
“Coach Smith used to coach at MTSU and I’m from about 15 minutes away,” she said. “I saw how she turned that program around and I wanted to go somewhere where I could play right off the bat and I felt this was a place I could do that.”
When she arrived at Alabama after a dominating career at Wilson Central High School in Mt. Juliet, it took the leadership of some of Alabama’s more experienced players, who took Jenkins under their wing??specifically, sophomores Talisha Chandler, Courtney Strauthers and Tamara Williams.
“When coach would get on to me Tamara would pull me aside and say, ??TJ keep your head up, you’re one of our best scorers and we need you,’ and things like that,” Jenkins said. “When we first started practicing it was so new to me and so much harder, and I just sat back until coach talked with me and said, ??We’re going to need you and how much you play is dependent on you.’ Then I started to start and was like, hey I like this, I want to keep doing this.”
Before long, it became evident on the court that Jenkins, who said she one day would like to play in the WNBA, was one of Alabama’s most valuable commodities. In the first 19 games of her college career, she is first in points per game and second in rebounds despite her inexperience at the college level and the fact, Smith said, that installing all of the nuances of the college game has taken some time with the team.
Of Alabama’s 14 players, there are only three seniors and one junior. Five are sophomores and Jenkins is one of five freshmen on the team.
“We’re really trying to get them to focus on thinking ahead, not to play in the specific moment, but thinking a pass or two ahead, what screen is coming next, thinking about time and score situations or a few possessions ahead,” Smith said. “Because we’re so young it’s not just the freshmen, it’s the whole team.”
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