The Wilson Post
LEBANON WEATHER

HOOPS: Kendall Spray inks with FGCU




Mt. Juliet native and 2016 Wilson Central High graduate Kendall Spray.ClemsonTigers.com

Mt. Juliet native and 2016 Wilson Central High graduate Kendall Spray.ClemsonTigers.com

Elite shooter leaves Clemson –

FORT MYERS, FL – Kendall Spray, a 2016 graduate of Wilson Central High and one of the elite 3-point shooters in the nation, has signed with the Florida Gulf Coast University women’s basketball program for her fifth and final season of collegiate basketball.

Spray spent the past three years at Clemson (the first as a redshirt transfer) where she earned both an undergraduate and a master’s degree. She was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic and entered the transfer portal in late March.

She started all 26 games for Clemson in 2020-2021, averaging 10.3 PPG and 3.2 RPG. 

The sharpshooter, who spent her first two seasons at UT Martin, enters the 2021-22 season with 363 career 3-pointers – ranking second among all active players behind Maryland’s Katie Benzan (380).

She also ranks third in 3-point field goals made per game (3.00), first in 3-point attempts (943) and second in 3-point attempts per game (7.79) while sporting a .385 career percentage from long distance.

Spray has already poured in 1,531 career points and ranks 34th among all active Division I players in total points as of the end of this past season and went 69-for-189 (.365) from long distance over 26 games. While landing a spot on the ACC’s All-Academic Team for the second consecutive season, she finished among the nation’s top 20 in 3-point field goals attempted (16th) and made (20th) while checking in 38th in 3-pointers made per game (2.65) and 77th in percentage.

She poured in a season-high 24 points along with six rebounds and two assists on 7-for-12 shooting from long distance in a win over No. 23 Syracuse on Jan. 24 and finished the campaign with 12 double-digit scoring efforts.

As a redshirt junior in 2019-20, Spray broke Clemson’s single-season 3-point record by making 80-for-228 (.351), which included the single-game record of eight against Notre Dame, which earned her ACC player of the week recognition on Dec. 30. She also produced her first double-double against Duke with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

In her first two seasons at UT Martin, Spray started 59 of 65 games while averaging a combined 14.7 PPG. She was named First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference as a sophomore after finishing ninth in the nation in 3-point field goals per game (3.68) and 16th in 3-point percentage (.425).

Overall, she averaged 16.7 PPG that season with a whopping 125 made 3-pointers. That came after a rookie campaign where she was named the OVC’s Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-OVC while landing a spot on the conference’s all-newcomer team. In that season, she broke UT Martin’s freshman 3-point record with 89.

Spray prepped at Wilson Central High School where she played for Coach John Wild and helped lead the Lady Wildcats to a 33-1 record and a state tournament appearance as a senior.

Following the season, she was named a TSSAA Class AAA Miss Basketball finalist after setting the state and national single-season 3-point record with 170. She broke the TSSAA record for most 3-pointers in a game with 14 against Harpeth Hall on Dec. 19, 2015, which earned herself a spot in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd.

A 5-7 guard, she scored 1,995 points in her high school career.

FGCU, which only lost to No. 11 Michigan, No. 14 Missouri State and No. 23 Arkansas en route to a 26-3 campaign this past season, made history by being just the second team in the program’s Division I era to finish among the top 25 teams nationally in both the AP and Coaches Poll, joining the 2014-15 squad that finished 20th and 21st.

From late November until the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the team won 25 consecutive games.

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