One-year-old Quianna Chaney stared into the bright camera flash for her photograph. The infant could choose one prop to hold: a duck or a basketball.
“She grabbed the basketball,” said Chaney’s mother Brenda Chaney with a laugh.
The scene was a Wal-Mart portrait shoot 21 years ago. And little Quianna Chaney’s decision was perhaps a sign of the greatness to come.
Chaney enters the final weeks of LSU’s regular season as the Lady Tigers’ go-to shooting threat. She leads the Southeastern Conference with a 43.8 shooting percentage from behind the arc and an average of 2.8 3-pointers per game.
With three Final Fours to her résumé, the senior guard said she has renewed confidence to help capture the elusive national championship.
“I think about it too much,” she said. “I find myself thinking about it all the time. My mom says ‘Good things come to those who wait.’ Well I’ve been waiting for four years.”
Chaney averages nearly 15 points per game, up from 11.8 points her junior season. She attributes the boost to LSU coach Van Chancellor’s technical correction of her shot: eliminating the flatness and stressing a higher arch.
“I’m just focusing on getting the ball up,” she said. “I’d rather have a good miss with it rimming in and popping out rather than it being a flat shot.”
Chancellor knew Chaney’s potential years before replacing coach Pokey Chatman at the end of the 2007 season. He frequently commentated her games and told her what she needed to improve.
“The very first day I met him, he said, ‘Chaney, the first thing I’m going to get you is confidence. You’re the best shooter in the SEC. You’re the best shooter in the United States,'” she said. “I’m just thankful he came into this program at the right time.”
LSU senior center Sylvia Fowles said she’s noticed an increased work ethic from Chaney – or “Q” as teammates call her – during the past four seasons.
“A lot has changed about Q,” Fowles said. “She wants to workout more and always gets in the gym early. I’m so used to being double- or triple-teamed. When you have people like Q on the perimeter knocking down, it makes it easier for me in the inside.”
Fowles also knows Chaney’s potential in games other than basketball. As on-campus roommates since freshman year, Fowles describes Chaney as a “goofy” teammate and “video game freak.”
“One morning she forgot that I was still asleep, and she had the TV blasting while playing Guitar Hero,” Fowles said. “I just walked out of my room and gave her a look, and she said, ‘Oh I’m so sorry!'”
Chancellor also acknowledged Chaney’s positive, fun-loving nature has helped her be receptive to constructive criticism.
“She’s absorbed everything that we’ve talked to her about,” he said. “She has an unbelievable personality … overjoyed … always smiling. One of the reasons she’s improved is that she comes in here early all the time and works out.”
The former WNBA Houston Comets coach said Chaney will be a high pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft.
Henry Combs, Chaney’s middle and high school basketball coach, is not surprised Chaney has a future in professional basketball. The coach for Southern Lab said he first saw Chaney play as a sixth grader. He convinced Brenda Chaney to let her daughter stay each day for one-on-one practice.
“It was obvious that she was going to be a pretty good young lady,” Combs said. “She would play against the boys. She had no fear. Any shot she took was good. I remember several times she would dribble once across half court and let it fly, and it would be nothing but net.”
Beyond the WNBA, Chaney hopes to coach a boys’ basketball team. She received her general studies degree in 2007 and envisions starting her career as a middle or high school coach.
But before she focuses on life beyond LSU, Chaney says the Lady Tigers’ unfinished business is at the top of her list.
“We want to go out with a bang,” she said. “We want that bang to be a national championship.”
—-Contact Amy Brittain at [email protected]