It was all one fluid motion — she leapt, swatted the basketball out of bounds, landed and screamed while thrusting her fist upward with excitement.
The PMAC erupted as LSU kept its commanding lead against Missouri with 13:33 remaining in the game.
This was a version of LSU senior guard Jeanne Kenney that many Tiger women’s basketball fans hadn’t seen before. 
She was electric, flying down the court, knocking away                    opposing passes and draining 3-pointers to give her squad momentum in a 75-58 victory. She finished with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists. Back on Jan. 16 in Columbia, Mo., she dropped a career-high 30 points against Missouri, including six 3-pointers in an 87-68 win.
Kenney hasn’t always been such a prolific scorer.
She walked onto the court in Columbia a year prior as a junior who had to miss her grandfather’s funeral after a snowstorm delayed the game by one day.
She proceeded to score just 3 points. For the season, Kenney averaged 5.5 points per game and made only 21.6 percent of her 3-point attempts.
Such low numbers were unusual for Kenney — she scored 1,000 career points in high school and considered herself an effective shooter. 
She said it isn’t her shooting ability that needed fixing. 
“The situations [in the past] have been that I’ve had to play the point guard position, so therefore I wasn’t able to take as many shots as I could have,” Kenney said. “This year we have many people who can handle the ball, and it gives me the opportunity to shoot on the outside. The reason I’m able to get those shots up is because of my teammates.”
Kenney said her surrounding guard play has been crucial, as her teammates have provided her with her fair share of open looks this season.
The result is a staggering increase in her scoring — Kenney is currently averaging 10.9 points per game and shooting 40.8 percent from the 3-point line, while playing the second-most minutes of any Lady Tiger this season.
“Because of her confidence, she feels like she can take those shots, and as her teammates, we feel like she should take those shots,” said senior forward Theresa Plaisance. “We have the utmost confidence in Jeanne to knock down any shot.”
It isn’t just scoring that has Kenney dominating in 2014. Her leadership has bled through the rest of the roster, influencing her freshmen teammates to stay motivated in any environment.
LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said the trait is vital for the program.
“When she’s being that leader that we know she can be, she can literally will our team and put us in position to win basketball games,” Caldwell said. “I’ve seen her do it time and time again. She picks her moments during the game, and she’s a player that we want to keep running action to.”
Kenney could be found high-fiving her comrades as the Lady Tigers began to pull away in the second half against Missouri on Feb. 6 in Baton Rouge, 
Kenney was a general, and her teammates fed off the emotion she exuded on the court. 
It was clear who was in command that night, and Missouri buckled under her presence. It was capped off by Kenney jumping and swatting an in-bound pass back in the visiting team’s direction, one of the final daggers in an eventual LSU victory.
The senior from Baton Rouge is finishing her legacy at LSU, and she’s making sure her mark stays on the program.
“I like the spirit of Jeanne and her playing with a lot of passion and enthusiasm because her time is ticking, and she knows that,” Caldwell said. “She’s trying to make sure that she gets this team in a position to be as successful as they possibly can.”
“I like the spirit of Jeanne and her playing with a lot of passion and enthusiasm because her time is ticking, and she knows that. She’s trying to make sure that she gets this team in a position to be as successful as they possibly can.”