Michigan State University Athletics
Victoria Lucas-Perry: The Spark
2/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2007
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Every team has pivotal moments in their season. Some of those moments come earlier than others. Moments where seasons come to the crossroads that poet Robert Frost once talked of.
For the 2006-07 Michigan State women's basketball, that moment came very early. Stunned by a 57-54 loss on their home floor to mid-major Hofstra on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the Spartans only had the Holiday to prepare for an Indiana State team that entered the Breslin Center averaging 100 points per game.
Victoria Lucas-Perry, a senior tri-captain, is the lone starter left from the 2004-05 National Championship team. On the day after Thanksgiving, she played the role of team leader and energizer, hitting six 3-pointers and dishing out six assists, leading the Spartans to the 85-66 win.
"I thought Victoria Lucas-Perry stepped up and did a lot of nice things, with rebounds, assists and she obviously did great things shooting wise as well," head coach Joanne P. McCallie said after the game. "She was the complete player and she wants to be that player every night."
Lucas-Perry had worked to be that complete player for three years, averaging just 13.3 minutes per game and 4.0 points as a freshman. As a sophomore, she started 28 games for the Spartans, becoming a pivotal compliment in the backcourt to Kristin Haynie and Lindsay Bowen.
Playing with the two Kodak/WBCA Honorable Mention All-Americans only helped the 5-9 Flint, Mich., native, as her scoring jumped to 10.2 points per game as a junior and her relentless hustle helped earn her a slot on Coach P's Team USA U-20 team at the FIBA Americas Championships in the summer. She averaged 9.6 points and 3.4 rebounds during the tournament, leading the team to the gold medal.
She returned to campus and has become the team's top scoring threat, leading the team with an average of 13.6 points. She has scored 20 or more points seven times, but she has willed the team to wins even on days where she didn't score thanks to her rebounding. Against Purdue, she spurred a 17-point comeback, not with her seven points, but her 11 rebounds.
"She went from being a small forward in high school to being a ball-handling guard at the Division I level," McCallie said. "Talk about a role model, a leader."
After graduation in May, Lucas-Perry will enroll in Dental School at the University of Michigan, just another step in the evolution of the two-time Academic All-Big Ten finance major.
Earlier this week, Lucas-Perry sat down to talk about her time in the Green and White as time winds down toward her final regular-season home game on Sunday against Minnesota.
Q: Did you ever think you'd ever reach 1,000 career points after scoring less than 150 as a freshman?
A: You don't really focus on points and personal accolades. To me it's all about the team and how we play. To me, it's all about winning.
Q: When you arrived in East Lansing, the Spartans had just gone to their first NCAA Tournament in six years. Did you ever dream you would make the Final Four and two Sweet 16 appearances in your time at Michigan State?
I definitely came here with the hope and aspirations to win and go the Final Four and the NCAA Tournament. As a high school player, we won the state championship twice, so I was all about winning. After my first year when we went to the second round, it really sunk in how tough it was and how dedicated you have to be in order to make it to the next level. I don't know if as a freshman, I really knew how hard it was, but as the years went on, I was able to understand more of what it takes and how special it is to get there.
Q: What has been your favorite moment at MSU?
A: The Tennessee game in the 2005 Final Four, coming back and getting to the national championship. We got down and everybody counted us out. People left messages on my answering machine saying they were sorry about the loss. People counted us out. The fact that we came back, and I hit some big shots down the stretch, it was just exciting.
Q: What has it meant to the team for Myisha Bannister to come back from her knee injury to reenter the starting lineup this year?
A: Myisha is my friend for life, my sister. She's meant so much. She's a great role model. She's a great role model because she is a model of what it takes to overcome a tough situation. She showed what it takes to overcome an injury and it's just a credit to her as a player and a person for her to contribute what she has to the team.
- Compiled by MSU Sports Information Intern Joe Guistina
