KNOXVILLE – At 5-foot-8, Jessie Rennie realized soon into her Tennessee basketball career that she needed to learn how to add some extra arc to her shot.
So she enlisted the help of the tallest person in the program – 6-6 assistant coach Jon Harper – to help her with that, knowing that while she may not always be shooting over players the size of fellow Lady Volunteers freshmen Tamari Key and Emily Saunders, each of whom measures 6-5, she would need to adjust her shot to be successful in the Southeastern Conference.
“Naturally I wasn’t shooting as high, so (Harper) would stand at the 3-point line and I’d shoot over his hand,” Rennie said.
She also used the shooting gun, which has a high net so she would have to shoot with a higher arc to get the ball over the machine’s net.
It’s all been worth it for the Australian, who was recruited to Tennessee by the previous coaching staff. Once she received their scholarship offer, she did her homework and realized just how prestigious the program was.