City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
––

Kaiya Rain Tucker’s hard-working day starts earlier than most. 

The Friends’ Central junior lives with her mom in the Fox Chase section of Northeast Philly, necessitating a 5 a.m. wakeup call to get to class on time.

“I’ve got to take two trains and a bus here,” she said, a commute that takes her “an hour and change,” made slightly worse this school year thanks to an updated regional rail schedule.

For Tucker, it’s worth it, the school’s combination of academics and athletics too much to turn down. It’s why she came to FCS after her freshman year at Franklin Towne Charter, and it’s that work ethic and drive that’s turned her into a Division I recruit as she starts her junior season. 

The 6-foot-tall forward showed off all her scrappiness as Friends’ Central overcame an ugly game from the field to emerge with a 39-33 win over Notre Dame on Thursday afternoon. 

Tucker and everybody else who took the court in this one had a rough day from the field, both teams shooting below 30% from the floor while combining for more than 40 turnovers, neither able to establish any sort of offensive rhythm. 

The only player in the game to score in double figures was Notre Dame freshman Riley Davis, who put together a 14-point, nine-rebound, four-block outing.

But it was Tucker’s effort that helped Friends’ Central (4-3) move above .500 while handing Notre Dame (4-1) its first loss of the young season, even in a game both teams will quickly want to move past. Her eight-point, 14-rebound, three-block effort saw her throwing her body all over the floor, coming up with seven offensive rebounds and several other loose balls.

“Yeah, these types of games [...] since we don’t run plays for her, any offensive rebound, the dirty work, she gets it done,” Phoenix coach Vinny Simpson said. “Loose balls, pick up a rebound here or there. She could have had 20 today, she missed a lot of layups, but she still got her rebounds.”

Tucker’s been putting in those kinds of efforts with Friends’ Central and her Books & Basketball Academy squad on the Under Armour circuit for a good while now, and schools have taken notice. She picked up her first offer, from Maryland-Eastern Shore, earlier in the spring, adding Coppin State and UMass-Lowell by the end of the offseason. 

“I’m not going to lie, I cried for my first offer, when I got my first offer, “ she said. “It doesn’t happen to everybody, so I’m happy that I was even able to get this chance and experience this.”

Further interest has come Tucker’s way from Holy Cross, Buffalo and Fordham, though she’s trying not to pay too much attention to that side of things at the moment. 

“I don’t play like I have any offers, I play like I still want to get offers,” Tucker said. “My confidence right now is pretty good, it’s pretty high, just have to not let games like this push it back, just have to get over the hump and keep playing hard.”

Tucker said she was a little bit of a late bloomer when it came to hoops, the COVID pandemic hitting during her middle school years a significant setback. She’s been working hard with Simpson, a Hampton standout who enjoyed an overseas professional career, now in his third year as FCS’ head coach, to make up for lost time. 

“Right now I’m trying to work on my jump shot, attacking the basket, my passing abilities,” she said. “Just working hard, running the floor. I think I developed them a little bit, I’ve got to get them a little more, though.”

She’s one of three Division I recruits the Phoenix have in their senior class: Logyn Greer, who had a quiet six-point game against Notre Dame, has more than 20 high-major offers in her pocket; Nal’la Bennett, held to two points on Thursday, has three of her own.

Simpson’s counting on that trio to push each other constantly in practice and in games, to make sure they’re all putting in as much effort as they can be on the floor. Tucker, unsurprisingly, is the one he needs to lead the way.

“I’m proud of them, they work just as hard as me, every single day,” Tucker said of her classmates. “This game wasn’t as good as we expected it to be, but tomorrow’s a new day, we’ve got practice. I’m going to have to push them even harder to get better.”

By Quarter
FCS:  10  |   7   |  13  |   9   ||  39
AND:   2   |  13  |   7   |  11  ||  33

Shooting
FCS: 15-55 FG (2-17 3PT), 7-8 FT
AND: 13-48 FG (6-25 3PT), 1-3 FT

Scoring
FCS: Londyn Mayo 9, Saniyah Washington 9, Kaiya Rain Tucker 8, Logyn Greer 6, Sydney Williams 3, Nal’la Bennett 2, Jordyn Adderly 2

AND: Riley Davis 14, Lizzie Halligan 8, Grace Nasr 6, Alex Gillin 3, Sophie Hall 2