Kuster sets women's basketball scoring record

By Miles Kruppa     2/4/14 6:00pm

With 3:23 left in the second half against Tulane University on Wednesday, Jan. 29, Rice women's basketball forward and Lovett College senior Jessica Kuster sunk a 3-pointer and etched her name in Rice history. Kuster currently holds the Rice women's basketball record for career scoring and rebounding after scoring 14 points against Tulane.

Kuster said she had been avoiding thinking about the record, but it was hard to maintain that level of focus when everyone was messaging her the day of the game.

"I had been trying to avoid all the media and all the stuff about it because I didn't want to know how many points I needed to kind of keep my stress level down," Kuster said. "But the day of and the day before the game, my Twitter was blowing up, so I did find out how much I needed to score. When it happened, I think I hit a three, and I just heard everybody start cheering extra hard, so that was really when it hit me."

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Additionally, if named to the 2014 All-Conference USA first team, Kuster will be the third Owl in women's basketball history to receive the honor.

Kuster said the accolades and broken records come from a combination of luck and hard work that started her freshman year.

"There's a quote that says '[luck is] where preparation and opportunity meet,' and that's honestly just what it's come down to," Kuster said. "I'm very aware I've gotten a lot of playing time since my freshman year, a lot more than freshmen [usually] do. I came in and I didn't expect anything. I just came in and just tried to work hard in practice everyday and put in quality minutes when I was out on the floor."

After averaging 14.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game her freshman year, Kuster improved on those numbers her sophomore year, averaging 17.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. 

However, Kuster said she experienced a mental slump during the second half of her sophomore season that forced her to reevaluate her goals.

"I just got tired of working so hard and the defense playing me so hard every game," Kuster said. "I was tired of having that target on my back, and I just wanted to be a person that could just sit and watch the game and watch everybody else do stuff. But then I had somebody who knocked me in the head and was like, 'This is what you want, this is what you've been working for, this is what you came here to do,' so then I sort of snapped back into it."

In the summer between her sophomore and junior years, Kuster began to transition from the forward spot to the guard spot, between which she has alternated her junior and senior seasons. 

Head Coach Greg Williams (Hanszen '70) said Kuster's ability to play in the post and on the perimeter makes her a difficult player to guard.

"When we first recruited her, she was being recruited as kind of a tweener because she's 6'2", but she was thin," Williams said. "A lot of people said, 'She can't play in the post, but she also can't play on the perimeter,' but she's proved them wrong. She's worked hard to get better on the perimeter and improve her ball handling and the range on her shot. Along with her ability to play inside, that gives us a big advantage."

Williams said Kuster's hard work has helped her grow as a player and inspire the rest of the team.

"She's the hardest worker in practice," Williams said. "At the end of practice, she'll try to win that sprint no matter how tired she is. She's a very durable player - she's only missed two games in her career and she's hardly ever missed a practice - and she really brings it every day. As a coach, you could hardly ask for more [than] that your best player is your hardest worker."

Kuster has captained the team since her sophomore year. She said she wants to be remembered as more than a scorer and a rebounder.

"If, in 10 years, people ask, 'How was Jessica when she was here?' I want people to talk about how I was a good leader and a good friend and a good teammate," Kuster said. "I want to be someone where, if five years down the road I come and I want to play an open gym, people would want to be on my team, not because of scoring or because of rebounding, but because I'm an encouraging person, because I would bring them up and would help motivate them."

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