STARKVILLE — Hesitancy can cripple a shooter.
Kayla Nevitt admits there were so many things going through her head last season in her first year with the Mississippi State women’s basketball team that she questioned whether she shoot the ball, where she should shoot it from, and how she should shoot the ball.
Thankfully, Nevitt says with a smile, the questioning voices in her head have quieted and are allowing her to do what comes naturally on the basketball floor. It took only three shots Tuesday for that to be apparent.
Lost in the cacophony of MSU’s 128-34 victory against Mississippi College in an exhibition game at Humphrey Coliseum was the calm of Nevitt going 2-for-3 from the field and scoring five points in six minutes. The 5-foot-10 sophomore guard from Houston, Texas, would have played more and scored more points, but she was involved in an automobile accident, so coach Vic Schaefer wanted to limit Nevitt’s playing time.
That shouldn’t be the case at 5:15 p.m. today when No. 11 MSU kicks off its 2015-16 season against Samford at the Hump.
For Nevitt, the game will be a chance to offer an extended viewing of her offensive skills. This time, Nevitt won’t show any hesitation when she gets the ball.
“It has to do with my confidence,” Nevitt said. “(Against Mississippi College), I didn’t think twice about it. If I was open, I shot it.”
Nevitt has one of the smoothest looking jump shots on the team. Her stroke is similar to former MSU standout Kendra Grant in that she has good elevation and a strong follow-through. But last season, Nevitt appeared in 18 games (the fewest on the team) and averaged 2.9 points per game and shot 35.3 percent from the field.
This season, Nevitt feels her scoring and her minutes per game (7.4 last season) could increase with the departure of Grant and Savannah Carter. Victoria Vivians, the team’s leading scorer (14.9 ppg.), returns with junior guard Dominique Dillingham and sophomore guard Blair Schaefer, who also have improved, but Nevitt is confident she can make a bigger impact now that she better understands the rigors of the Southeastern Conference. She hopes she will be able to provide the scoring touch she showed at Andy Dekaney High School (Texas), where she averaged 11.8 points, 2.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.1 steals for her career. Her accomplishments earned her a three-star rating from ESPN and four stars from Premier Girls Basketball Report.
MSU coach Vic Schaefer hopes Nevitt can take the hard work she put in in the offseason and have the results translate to the court.
“I thought Kayla played really well early (against Mississippi College),” Schaefer said. “I need Kayla to play well, so I was excited to see her. I think the more confidence improves the better she is going to be for us.”
Nevitt showed what she can offer the Bulldogs against the Choctaws, hitting a 3-pointer from the corner and driving from the wing and hitting a pull-up jumper in the lane. She said she didn’t allow any doubt to creep into her head that caused her to wonder if any of her teammates were open. Instead, she attacked the rim and let the basketball fly.
“I was calm and I wasn’t nervous like I was last year,” Nevitt said. “It just all came to me.”
Nevitt said the only other time she recalled being hesitant with her shooting was when she was a freshman in high school. She said that, too, was a new situation, where she had to get adjusted to new teammates and a new system. She said that nervousness dissipated after a couple of games in part because her sister, Shunta Nevitt, was a member of the team. Shunta Nevitt is a senior on the Southern Arkansas women’s basketball team. She also wears No. 23.
Kayla Nevitt said point guard Morgan William sensed her hesitation in her game last season. She said William tried to encourage her to “let it flow” because she saw her make shots every day in practice and wanted her to bring that confidence to the games.
Even though it was only three shots, Nevitt believes she can take confidence from her performance against Mississippi College and build on it. She knows she will have to play with that confidence because MSU has crept up in the national rankings and will be tested by every team on its schedule.
The challenge MSU will face is similar to the one Nevitt will face individually because she knows she is competing with her teammates for playing time. On a team in which all 14 eligible players can contribute, Nevitt intends to answer that call without hesitation.
“I feel like every day at practice we have to lay it on the line and go 100 percent,” Nevitt said. “It is always somebody competing against each other in practice. That is what makes us so great. It is a challenge, and everybody is competing for minutes, so I just try to bring it every day like everybody else, and, hopefully, it shows on the court.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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