Murray State's lone senior hoping to go out on top
WBB: Briley Pena helped the Racers win their first Missouri Valley championship in March
This week has kicked off a series of ‘last firsts’ for Murray State senior guard Briley Pena. The last first day of summer workouts is in the books, and it’ll soon be followed by the last first practice and the last first game of Pena’s collegiate career. There’s still plenty of sand left in her basketball hourglass, but Pena knows this final season will slip by quickly.
“Honestly, I probably won't process it until around where it gets close to Senior Night and all that kind of stuff,” Pena said. “I try to just live in the moment, but I don't want to think about it. I'm going to start crying. It's sad, but I'm excited for (my last season).”
After a senior class of Katelyn Young, Ava Learn, Trinity White and Jenna Walker punctuated their final season in Murray with a Missouri Valley Conference championship two months ago, Pena is hoping to help lead the Racers back to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, Murray State had four seniors. This year, they have one — and Pena knows that brings certain expectations of leadership.
“I've been with Kate since I was a baby,” Pena chuckled. “With her being gone, I have to be the example. Kate would always lead by example, but now I have to do that. Obviously we have (junior guards) Halli (Poock) and Haven (Ford), who are decorated guards, and they're older now, so they'll help me out, but I feel like I have to take that on as a senior. I feel like that's a lot different this year. I'm sad that my seniors are gone. I miss them, but life goes on. It is what it is — it’s just part of the process.”
Murray State Head Coach Rechelle Turner doesn’t think Pena needs to become a leader on the team, because she thinks she’s already been doing it for years.
“I thought Briley was a key leader for us last year, and a pivotal piece that allowed us to be as successful as we were,” Turner said. “Her unselfishness of coming off the bench and playing that role was incredibly helpful and respected by all.”
As a sophomore, Pena started all 31 games for the Racers, averaging 20.5 minutes per game. This past season, she started only twice, but her playing time increased to 25.1 minutes a night.
“When you're used to starting every game, when you’re asked to play a different role, sometimes that's hard, but she accepted it and she definitely embraced it,” Turner added. “Because of the way she handled it, it was just great leadership all the way around.”
Players love to start games, but to paraphrase an old coaching adage, it doesn’t matter who starts — it matters who finishes. Turner trusted Pena in the biggest moments last season, including late in the fourth quarter of the Missouri Valley Conference championship game where Pena delivered the knockout punch to Belmont.
Pena has long been one of Murray State’s most vocal and enthusiastic players. Over the last three seasons, she has earned the respect of her teammates, and earned the right to use her voice to lead — even when talking to the greatest player in the history of the program.
“Last year, even though I didn't go out there and score 30 points a game, they still listened to me,” Pena said. “Kate listened to me. Ava listened to me. Trinity listened to me. Everybody that played, we all listened to each other. It wasn't just, ‘You listen when I speak.’ It's, ‘I listen when you speak, and I give you that respect’ — and they give it back. I feel like by doing the right thing and always being where you're supposed to be on the court, they start to trust you more. I want people to tell me when I'm wrong. I tell them, ‘If I'm doing something wrong, I want you to let me know too’ — we have that understanding.”
“She’s always been vocal and willing to stand up for what she believes in,'“ Turner said. “As her relationship with me developed, she always found a way to hold me accountable as well, and that's my expectation of our leaders.”
Hang on.
How exactly do Murray State players, and specifically how does Briley Pena hold Rechelle Turner accountable?
“Well,” Turner laughed, “we just hold each other accountable. I said, ‘I can't ask you to do certain things if you guys don't expect the same of me.’ There was a particular instance this year late in the season. We weren't making shots and we weren't making good decisions. It's probably the first media timeout and I was getting all over them about their body language and they're bad attitudes about their shots not going in — overall just not happy with the way we were carrying ourselves. Briley looks me square in the eye and says, ‘Uno Reverse — back at ya! You have that same look on your face because we're not making shots. We're not trying to miss them!’ I know most people would be like, ‘Wow!’ — but that's just who we are as a team and as a program. Again, as a coaching staff and as a leader of this program, I do not ask our kids to do anything that's not expected of us, and they have the freedom to say, ‘Hey, Coach, you're not setting the example. We need you to be more positive right now.’ Briley's one of those young women that's willing to poke the bear if need be.”
Pena has also earned the ability to poke the bear because of her play on the floor. In three seasons in a Racer uniform, she has knocked down 141 three-pointers. Macey Turley (269), Mariah Robinson (264) and Amber Guffey (210) are the only three players in Murray State history to make 200 in a career, and Pena has a legitimate chance to join them this year.
In her three years, Pena is one of only four players in the Missouri Valley Conference to make at least 141 triples while shooting at least 38.3% from beyond the arc, joining Northern Iowa’s Kayba Laube, Drake’s Abbie Aalsma and Katie Dinnebier.
As she works her way through her fourth and final season in Murray, the individual accolades will naturally roll in for Pena. With that said, one of the founding principles of Turner’s program is “We Over Me”, and that’s just one of the reasons Pena is focused on ending her career with another championship.
“I think it’s proving to everybody that we can do it again,” Pena said. “This is a top-notch program that just didn't get lucky one time. I'm excited to prove that to everybody. That's kind of where my fire is going to come from.”