From her spot at the end of the bench, Patty Hanten can see everything that goes on in the game for the No. 3 LSU women’s basketball team.
The senior from Brazil has played sparingly in her two years since transferring from Miami-Dade Community College, garnering 240 career minutes in 31 games, an average of just under eight minutes per game.
“Sometimes it’s hard sitting on the bench and looking at the other teams and saying man, I could have done that if I was on that team,” Hanten said. “Plenty of times I’ve thought that. It was hard here, but sometimes you can’t always have it easy.”
Hanten said she went through high school and junior college always wishing she could leave and go to the next level but said she later realized the best things were right in front of her.
“You never end up enjoying where you’re at,” Hanten said. “If there’s a problem here, the next place you go there’s going to be problems there too.”
The lack of playing time often bothered Hanten last season, when LSU was down to seven healthy players but only rotated six during the games.
“I would see girls my speed doing really well, and I knew I could come in and do that, but the coaches didn’t see it that way, and it really bothered me,” Hanten said. “But now, I’ve just learned to be happy no matter what happens. It isn’t going to do anything for me to cry or complain. That’s not going to get me more playing time, so I might as well be happy where I’m at and enjoy life.”
Gunter said Hanten’s playing time was low because the coaching staff felt other areas of her game were not as strong, but Hanten never let it frustrate her or take away from her duties.
“I think I’m probably one of Patty Hanten’s biggest fans,” Gunter said. “You want to do what is best for the players, but you also have to do what you think is best for the team. That’s always the overriding factor in who you play, when they play and how much they play.”
Hanten considered other schools on the East coast, such as Kentucky, but felt her dynamic 3-point shooting skills could flourish better at LSU. She shot 42.6 percent from behind the arc in junior college while averaging 18.3 points per game.
Hanten chose LSU over Kentucky because she thought it would be more of a challenge, and she liked the motion offense the Lady Tigers used. She said the choice has been worth it, especially since this year’s team has a good chance to play for the national championship.
“Nobody on our team is big-headed,” Hanten said. “We all see ourselves as equals, and that’s what’s so special about this team.”
With all the talent on this year’s squad, which is a No. 1 seed going into the NCAA Tournament, Hanten has seen limited action in 14 games but got to take the floor in two important games against Tennessee.
In the Feb. 23 game in Baton Rouge when the Tigers trailed by three, LSU head coach Sue Gunter did not hesitate to put Hanten in the game for a chance to take a tying 3-point shot.
“There are certain situations where we all feel very comfortable with Patty,” Gunter said. “She’s just a pure shooter.”
The move surprised Hanten, who has come into games cold before but was not expecting to be a part of such a crucial game.
“I was shocked,” Hanten said. “I didn’t expect that because other times [I’ve come in], we were down by three, but this time she [Gunter] just patted me and said go in.”
Hanten is averaging 3.0 points and 5.4 minutes per game this season and has hit 44 percent of her 3-pointers.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a player that’s handled everything and still maintained and made such a huge contribution,” Gunter said.
Despite her low numbers, Hanten said she would like to continue playing basketball, either overseas or possibly in the WNBA.
“I’ve got nothing to lose,” Hanten said. “Maybe my style of play is not totally LSU. I think we have a lot of athletic players, but I’ve seen girls that were drafted and thought maybe I could be in there too. I think if I work hard, I could do it.”