Briyona Canty, who starred at Trenton Catholic Academy, is a fifth-year senior for the Rutgers' Scarlet Knights
PISCATAWAY - Disappointment. Frustration. Injuries.
Those words may best sum up Briyona Canty's college basketball experience.
With the Rutgers University women's season winding down, the fifth-year senior at Rutgers seems to have come to terms with a career that no one could have anticipated.
Coming out of Trenton Catholic Academy five years ago, one recruiting service listed her as the top-rated guard in America. She was destined for great things, having taken her high school team to the Tournament of Champions title.
Signs of trouble did not take long to appear.
Averaging fewer than three points a game as a freshman, perspective came crashing into her life a couple of months after the season when she underwent open heart surgery.
Cleared to return that fall, she then injured her left knee, had micro-fracture surgery and was done for the season.
Last season it was a bone bruise - at Indiana in the Big 10 opener - after starting 11 of 12 games. She missed four games and would start only six thereafter.
As if that hasn't been enough, last week she and her teammates played three games with the emotional burden of coach C. Vivian Stringer's mother having died.
Clearly her college basketball career has been much more than statistics. Yet here she is, still plugging, still icing the knees, still extending the game she loves for as long as it will take her.
The point guard has started 23 games this season.
But her numbers remain far from what so many expected as the Scarlet Knights went into Saturday's game at Illinois: 6 points per game; 38 percent shooting average; only 56 percent on free throws; but, 116 assists to 62 turnovers and a team-high 45 steals.
(Canty scored 3 points, grabbed 4 boards and had 7 assists against Illinois.)
Briyona Canty in action against the Northwestern Wildcats on Wednesday night, Feb. 10, 2016. (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)Canty also has a routine.
"I go through three packs of gum a day,'' she said with her light-up-the-room smile the other day, relaxing on the bleachers after a long practice at the RAC. "When I was younger it was worse, because I would chew Bubblicious. Now I'm trying to stay away from that with gum like Trident; something better. But I swallow the gum. I eat it. Sometimes during games.''
Prior to games she reflects. She will say a prayer in the locker room, and another as the team trots out to the floor, "Praying for god to shield the team from any harm,'' she said.
There were more prayers than usual when Stringer returned to the sidelines Wednesday against Northwestern. The game ended in dramatic fashion, with Canty hitting a game-tying 3-pointer before a teammate won the game on layup in the final seconds.
"For me, it was hard, because I'm a big family person,'' Canty said about Stringer's loss. "If it were me, I'd be crushed. We were sad. The Minnesota game (a loss Feb. 4) was really sad for me. They had a moment of silence, then a gospel group sang. I was like, 'Wow.'
"We were going through it, but it was even harder for coach Stringer. But at the end of the day we need to play for her. The Penn State (win, Feb. 7), I think, really turned us around.''
They need to keep that going if they are going to be selected for the NCAA tournament. With a 15-10 record and only four more regular season games remaining after Illinois (three at home), Rutgers needs to finish very strong.
So does Canty.
"I'm comfortable now. Every day I'm trying to get more aggressive, looking to score more and be comfortable,'' the 23-year-old offered. "I don't want to forget why I came here, and why coach Stringer, a Hall of Fame coach, recruited me. That's my mind set each and every day. At the end of the day, man, you gotta' live with what you got.
"For me, every year it's been something, but to me it's been learning and getting past it. I really haven't done what I thought I'd be doing, and I live with that. But I'm not sad about it. It is what it is and it happened and I can't rewind and get the time back. I can just do what I can do today. I think to freshman year and it was, 'Man, I'm supposed to be doing this and I can't even do it.' I was mad.''
And frustrated.
"When I kept getting injured, and with the heart surgery, I was like, 'Oh my god! Oh! My! God! This is a yearly thing going on and I can't stop it.''
If she could speak to her freshman self she would told the 18-year-old to work hard. "Harder than yesterday,'' she said, staring at the court. "Work on your craft. Don't think just talent is going to get you there. Keep your head up, don't get down on yourself. The next three years are going to be tough, but keep pushing; you gonna' get through it.''
Just as she has.
It's her love of the game that's prevailed, and she hopes that will carry her if not into the WNBA than to a career in Europe. After that, maybe her degree in Criminal Justice will lead to a career as a detective.
"When they ask you what you're gonna' be when you grew up, I always said I'm gonna' play basketball. Forever,'' she said.
Stringer acknowledged Canty's improvement since the kid from Willingboro first caught her eye.
"She really has matured tremendously. She's evolved in every aspect,'' Stringer said. "Progress is about growth; it doesn't matter where you've come from, it's where you're going and where you ultimately are.''
The disappointment, the frustration and the injuries are in the past. Briyona Canty is finally comfortable exactly where she is.
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