Don't make the assumption that because Tanisha Wright is an Elementary and Kindergarten Education major she's all warm and fuzzy on the court.
Wright will be the first to tell you that as a senior and a leader, you have to get on your teammates a little bit.
The two-time defending Big Ten Champion Penn State women's basketball team will depend a whole lot on Wright this year as a scorer and as a leader.
Wright has always gotten it done on the defensive side of the court first. She was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year the last two years, something no other player has ever accomplished. She's a two-time first-team Big Ten all-conference player, and was also named to the preseason Big Ten all-conference team this year. Stats like those are some of the reasons Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland says Wright will be the best player she will ever have coached with the Lady Lions.
"There's not a year that I don't come in here and say she's better and better," Portland said.
Wright is even on the "Wade Watch," the list of preseason candidates for the Wade Trophy, the annual award for the best player in NCAA women's basketball. Penn State's own first-year assistant coach, Susan Robinson Fruchtl, won the Wade Trophy as a member of the Lady Lions back in 1992.
With Kelly Mazzante gone, Wright is the leading returning scorer for the Lady Lions, averaging 14.8 points per game. That's a number that will probably go up, as the ball is put more and more into Wright's hands.
Wright knows this team is her team.
"Things need to be said and things need to be done," Wright said. "I'm not the kind of person that's going to sugar coat things."
Freshman Romana Vynuchalova found that out the hard way earlier this season in practice. During a drill, the often-aloof Vynuchalova let a basketball bounce by the wayside instead of passing it back to Jess Strom to restart the run-through. Wright got on her case a little bit.
"She scared Romana a little bit," Strom said. "She didn't say anything when Tanisha kept calling her name. She didn't even do anything; she just wouldn't give me the ball. So [Tanisha] starting yelling, 'Romana!'
"Romana just doesn't pay attention. It's funny because Tanisha wants to work with little kids, but after that Romana was like, 'I just can't see her working with little kids.' "
Strom knows that as a senior she's certainly a team leader too, but she sees her leadership style a little differently.
"Tanisha is the intense and vocal one," Strom said.
"And I'm like, 'It's OK. Good try.' But I think its good to have both kind of people."
Lions Road Show
Portland and Men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis have been hitting the mean streets -- of central Pennsylvania -- as part of the Penn State basketball tip-off tour.
Scenic Huntingdon, Lewistown, and Clearfield have all played host to the Lions coaches, drumming up support for the 2004-2005 season.
The circus plays its biggest venue yet, fabulous Altoona next Monday night before returning home to State College for the First Annual Penn State Basketball Eve on November 17th.
