Jerica Coley becomes FIU all-time leading scorer

Jerica Coley has a knack for breaking long-standing records.

Last season, Coley scored 840 points and shattered the record for most points scored in a season, a mark that stood since 1982 (820 points by Karen Turnquest). This past Wednesday, Coley one-upped herself and became FIU’s all-time leading scorer, a record that was unreachable since 1995 (2,515 points by Albena Branzova), after netting 16 points to give her 2,524 points as of Jan. 8.

Coley’s latest feat came in a 59-41 loss against the University of Rice when Arielle Durant delivered a hand-off pass that Coley converted into a three-point shot from the top of the key. Coley released a high-arching jump shot and shortly thereafter she was the top scorer in school history.

“It was just an open look. I had a couple more before that but this is one that I made,” Coley said of the shot that etched her name deeper into FIU lore. “I kind of took my time a little bit more so that probably made the difference.”

That open look Coley converted was one of the few Rice allowed her the entire game. Rice played, for the nearly the entire game, a “box-and-one” defense. This scheme is a hybrid between man-to-man and zone defense where two front-court players play zone defense in the post and two guards play zone toward the top of the key while one player plays man-to-man defense on the best offensive player, in this case, it was Coley.

“We saw something new and made some adjustments and tried to get other people open,” Head Coach Cindy Russo said of Rice’s defense. “We never saw that, we didn’t prepare for it. We didn’t see it all year and didn’t see it on film.”

Coley struggled to make history, she shot 2-of-13 from the field in the first half and scored all six of her first-half points within a 30-second span. She converted on a free-throw at the 13:45 mark, laid the ball in for two points with 13:19 remaining and stole the ball with 13:15 to go and turned that into an old-fashion three-point play.

Coley improved her play in the second half despite the double-teams from Rice, but FIU as a team struggled mightily shooting the ball when she would pass out of pressure. For the game, Coley shot 6-of-24 (25 percent) from the field while everyone else shot 9-49 (18 percent).

“They just weren’t falling and I think we got tighter and tighter as the game went on,” Russo said about the offensive struggles. “They never gave up, they play hard all the time, it’s just one of those games where nothing went our way.”

Despite the struggle to score, Coley remained aggressive just knowing she was only eight points away from making history.

“I knew i needed eight points but I wasn’t really counting,” Coley said before taking a breath, arching her eyebrows and adding, “I mean, was counting that I was missing a lot.”

Coley, who usually pays little attention to the records she often breaks, did take the time to acknowledge this record in a different light.

“It just shows that with a lot of hard work and a lot of good coaching you can accomplish goals like that,” Coley said. “It wasn’t my goal, but, I guess it’s kind of a big deal when you think about it. With a lot of hard work, good things happen.”

With Coley’s latest accomplishment, FIU entered a rare class of its own, becoming just the fifth school in Division I women’s basketball history with 2,500-point career scorers.

Coley, interestingly enough, became just the second Coley to lead a South Florida school in career points. Her aunt, Tamika Coley, is UCF’s all-time leading scorer with 2,006 points.

“I knew that before but i didn’t think about it,” Coley said before the tone of her voice changed with excitement as she continued to think about her aunt. “That’s a huge deal. She’s one of the coaches who helped me a lot and coached me all through high school and now still. So that’s pretty cool.”

Russo, who also coached Branzova, also took a moment to acknowledge the Coley’s special moment.

“We cannot overlook that she [Coley] made history here at FIU,” Russo said.