Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Florida Memorial on November 4, 2025
Women's Basketball
vs. Florida Memorial
Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Women's Basketball: Put Your Guard Up
11/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 2, 2016
Boca Raton, Fla. -
Within the Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team lies a contingent of players whose job it is to be a "Jack-of-all-Trades". They are expected to shoot, score, rebound, block, assist, penetrate inside and down low, pressure the opposing defense, and much more. This group is better known as FAU's guards.
According to Florida Atlantic University Head Women's Basketball Coach Kellie Lewis-Jay, the first thing you see with the guards is their ability to shoot the ball. As with the forwards, this large group poses a huge threat from the perimeter. Yet Coach Lewis-Jay and the team is not satisfied with just one weapon in their arsenal. She and the coaching staff have been working to develop this group into a powerful unit both offensively and defensively.
"I think overall we are going to be a better three-point shooting team than we were last year. That is our identity. That's who we are. That's what we do," said Lewis-Jay. "Now we have to expand more of who we are. We live and die by the three, but it would be great to have more weapons than just the three."
A lot of this responsibility falls on junior returners Nika Zyryanova and Malia Kency who bring their veteran expertise to the court. Zyrayanova was used heavily in her sophomore season averaging 3.2 points per game with a .337 field goal percentage. Kency, who earned 2014-15 Freshman All-Conference USA honors, overcame a great deal of adversity after missing a good portion of the 2015-16 preseason due to injury. Despite this, Kency averaged 5.2 points and 2.0 assists per game last season. She also has a career shooting average of .344, including .343 from beyond the arc.
"When Malia is shooting the ball well she is one of the best shooters in the conference. If you give her an open look it's going to go down," said Lewis-Jay. "We need more out of her now as a junior, as a leader and as someone who is going to have the ball in her hands a lot. She has to really control the team."
The point guard position is one that Lewis-Jay is focusing a lot of her efforts on. In addition to Kency, freshman Vashnie Perry is expected to make a big impact for the Owls in this spot. Perry, an All-Star MVP and All-State First Team member from Norcross High School, brings a different look for FAU; one that allows the team to press.
"In the past, we have been a pressing team and a team that is going to get after it. We haven't been able to do that the past two years," said Lewis-Jay. "You bring someone like Vash in and instantly you up your chances of being able to go back to what we were defensively as a team that put pressure on the other team's guards. Vash can get to the basket. She is extremely quick. She will open things up for our shooters even more with her ability to penetrate."
Despite all this talk about offense, Lewis-Jay has made defensive growth one of the team's highest priorities this season, specifically when it comes to rebounding from the guard position. FAU has seen a lot of improvement in this area with the help of freshmen Julia Jenike, Alexis Shannon and Jacey Bailey.
"Our guard rebounding is 10 times better than it was, even though Ali (Gorrell) was one of our best rebounders last year," said Lewis-Jay. "You add someone like JJ (Jenike) and Jacey who are great rebounders from the guard spot. Alexis is like our Dennis Rodman. She finds a way to get her hands on literally every single ball. Vash, even though she is little, she is going to get in there and rebound. They have a mentality of `I'm going to go get the ball' and that becomes contagious. Our three-point shooting is contagious, but it is nice to see our rebounding mentality become contagious because of our freshman guards."
Ultimately, it is going to come down to defense for the Owls, and the guards will be asked to set the tone for the rest of the team. FAU fell a bit short on the defensive end last season ranking in the bottom half of most defensive categories in C-USA. Although they did see some success with defensive rebounding as they brought down an average of 25.6 per game to claim the sixth spot in the conference along with Gorrell in the 15th spot with 6.7 per game. Junior returner Sasha Cedeno also brought a strong blocking game with 26 total blocked shots (0.9/game) to put her ninth in all of C-USA.
"Defense has to control who we are," said Lewis-Jay. "We're a team that emotionally lives off our offense. We are just trying to change our mentality to: offense can come and go, but we have to be able to live off our defense. If we can pick up the level of intensity defensively we can have the season we want to have."
The guard contingent will be ready to put their hard work into action when the season opens on Friday, Nov. 11 as the Owls host Florida Memorial at 7 p.m. at FAU Arena. To purchase tickets, please call 1-866-FAU-Owls or visit fausports.com. You can also follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @FAU_WBB.
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballInside the Owls Burrow 2025-26 #4
Thursday, September 04
Inside the Owls Burrow 2025-26 #3
Friday, August 29
Inside the Owls Burrow 2025-26 #2
Friday, August 22
Inside the Owls Burrow 2025-26 #1
Thursday, August 14