Freshman point guard ready to lead again

Jennifer Lane has faced and defeated this challenge before. The Virginia Commonwealth University women's basketball program hopes, fervently, that she can do so again.

Lane, the Rams' freshman point guard, is the new kid on the block, literally as well as figuratively. VCU's success will hinge, at least in part, on her ability to steer a team laden with junior and senior talent. The task is at best daunting. Lane knows the drill: She must stride confidently while taking care not to step on upperclass toes. Her hold on the reins must be simultaneously firm and sensitive.

"There's some pressure," she said. "But so far, I think I've handled it pretty well. It's sort of like when I was a freshman in high school. The same thing happened there. I had to step up and try to be a leader then, too."

She didn't merely try. She succeeded in spectacular fashion. Lane, an 18-year-old from Wichita, Kan., led Wichita Heights High School to a 91-9 record and two state championships in four seasons. And at VCU? So far, so good. The Rams will carry a 4-1 record into tonight's date with crosstown rival Richmond. Lane is the only VCU player to have started each of those five games.

None of which is intended to suggest that the transition has been effortless.

"It's a different game" in college, Lane said. "It's so much more fast-paced. But the biggest adjustment is: In high school, I was usually the best player on the floor. Here, everybody is as good, if not better. That's a hard thing to get used to. Sometimes it can be a little discouraging."

Sometimes, but apparently not often. Rams coach Beth Cunningham said Lane has fit into the Rams' point guard position like a hand into a glove. Lane's influence, Cunningham said, far exceeds her statistics (4.6 ppg, 3.0 assists per game).

"A point guard in basketball is a lot like a quarterback in football," Cunningham said. "The good ones never get too high or too low. Jennifer is like that. She's always on an even keel. She's a smart, savvy, poised player who has a good feel already for what we want to do - and how we want to do it - at the offensive end of the floor."

Lane's personality is one of quiet fire. Soft-spoken by nature, she prefers to let results, rather than words, do her talking.

"When you put [a challenge] in front of me, I'm going to say, 'OK - I can do that,'" she said. "Then I'm going to work hard and stay positive and do everything I can to make something good come out of it."
Contact Vic Dorr Jr. at (804) 649-6442 or .