Women's Basketball | November 22, 2023
Christine Gregoire once said, "It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left for us, and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our children and future generations." University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball standout
Jentri Worley not only lives up to this quote but is paving the way for the younger generations in her community.
Worley, a 5-10 guard from Neelyville, Mo was a multi-sport athlete growing up. The standout played basketball and softball throughout her early athletic career before coming to college.
After her junior high school season, Worley had to have surgery and was not able to participate on her softball team. Worley's next steps were to choose between her love for softball and basketball. She ultimately chose basketball because she knew she wanted to play basketball in college and not softball.
After high school, Worley found herself in Kentucky at Murray State for her first two years. After an injury at her previous school, she decided to transfer and when thinking about where to transfer next she only had eyes for the state of South Carolina. She loved coming to South Carolina with her family and the unbeatable weather conditions that are hard to find anywhere else.
Worley reached out to the basketball coaching staff, and it was a perfect match. After coming to the University of South Carolina Aiken, Worley, an all-conference performer, has been an integral part of the team. Over the past two seasons, Worley has started every game she has played in. Worley averages 12 points per game and helped her team to the NCAA tournament last year. Two of her biggest highlights were hitting back-to-back game-winning buzzer-beater shots, including one from mid-court against Clayton State. Over the past three years, it was clear that the University of South Carolina Aiken was the clear-cut choice for Worley. She stated, "I have liked it here, I really like the community, I have a great relationship with my coaches, really the whole athletic department is nice."
Outside of her athletic accomplishments, Worley had come up with an idea on how to give back to her community. She came up with the idea of starting a basketball camp for her community with the support of her family. From this idea, it was time to get the ball rolling. Worley found sponsors to donate shirts and awards, partnered up with the park department to get space to run the camp, and had help from the whole community to get the camp up and running.
Worley has since hosted two basketball camps and has enjoyed every second. Worley not only received attention from the Neelyville community but also had kids coming from Southeast Missouri looking to expand their knowledge and skill in basketball. Worley's overall goal was to bring kids out to have fun playing basketball and make sure they knew that playing college basketball was not as impossible as they may think.
Worley feels that this camp has had an overall positive effect on her community. Worley commented, "Where I am from you do not see a lot of people go and play college basketball from far away." By hosting these camps, she was able to give more information about how it is possible to go far from home to play any college sport. She said, "Being able to tell them that you can go wherever you want with sports, not even just basketball… made them excited." Worley gave the campers the motivation that if they really want something and work hard for it, anything is achievable.
Worley will continue to host these camps in the summers to come. Through coaching these camps, she has found a new aspiration to possibly be a coach in the future. Even if she does not continue to be a coach, she wants to be able to be involved in athletics and still talk to kids, motivate them to be the best version of themselves, and teach them that their dreams can come true.
