Gray Shows Time Has Not Passed Her By Former WSU Standout Helps Close Hoopfest Generation Gap

Jonni Gray scored 1,500 points in a record-setting collegiate career. Eight seasons after she played the last of her 111 games, her 3-point shooting percentage - .424 - is still No. 1 at Washington State.

Eight seasons is a millennium in women’s basketball.

Gray is one of the stars of yesterday who volunteered that point Saturday at Hoopfest.

“I’m fortunate I played when I did,” Gray said. “The game has changed drastically. It’s not like there are a few talented young women now - there are lots of them. These young kids just out of high school are physical and strong and quick.”

The game is evolving so fast that “I hate to admit it, but it’s left some of us behind,” said the 30-year-old Gray.

Some, but not her. The girls that her team beat in the morning were, collectively, at least a half-dozen years younger.

Good players like Gray get it back in a hurry. Still, she shrugs off any kind of build-up.

“The old saying is true,” she said. “The older you get, the better you were.”

Gray, in fact, had a standout career. Her Auburn High School teams went 78-5, she said. With exactly 1,500 points, she’s third on the all-time list at WSU. A strong 6-footer, she once scored 33 in a college game.

“I like to occasionally look back on what I did,” she conceded, “knowing those records won’t last much longer.”

Reminded that she’s also No. 3 all-time at WSU in career fouls, Gray said, “You can’t foul out in Hoopfest. That’s a rule made for me. Jonni’s rule. That’s why I’m here.”

Gray is teamed with Amy Simpson, Camelia Bloom and Tammy Tibbles, the former Creston High and Gonzaga star turned Spokane firefighter.

Tibbles broke open a tight first game with Rebels Kennedy with three straight baskets and a burner of a no-look pass to Simpson to beat a double-team.

That set up her team’s 16th point. Gray then hit a fade from the middle to make it 17-11.

The teams traded baskets until Tibbles drilled the last shot to put her team - named MOOLB (Bloom, spelled backward) - over the top, 20-13.

“I played against Tibbles in college, but this is the first time we’ve played together,” Gray said. “She’s something, isn’t she? She makes me realize I have no excuses.

“I’ve been lazy. Let’s put it like it is. That sums up my story.”

Since Gray has gone from college star to woman in the work force - she’s spent six years with the Seattle water department - the best have so much more to play for, with two pro leagues competing to sign top talent.

But the WNBA or ABL might have been beyond her reach, even in her prime, she said.

“You know, honestly, I don’t think I was good enough. It would have been fun to try, but I don’t think I would have had a shot.”

Gray can still put it on the pavement and reverse but what sets her team apart is the pass. Tibbles, Simpson and Gray move well away from the ball and create opportunity with the pass.

“Your skills go but you still have your head in the game,” she said.

Life after basketball brought a shakeup in priorities.

“I have my degree,” she said. “Make sure you slide that in somewhere. I did go back and get a degree in psychology. I was looking for a job working with kids - juvenile probation - but I had trouble getting in. So I went for the money.”

Once a giant among women, Gray is getting used to looking eye to eye or even up at the people checking her this weekend.

“I started officially in seventh grade,” she said. “These girls start in second and third. The tall ones are proud of their size.

“What’s great now is that it’s OK for a girl to be an athlete.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo