Rutgers women cherish late Nikki McCray-Penson: ‘She’s still here right now’
The Scarlet Knights still incorporate lessons from their assistant coach who died in July. "I think the biggest part is just we talk about her all the time," Coquese Washington said.
PISCATAWAY – Chyna Cornwell remembers it vividly. She had her most frustrating performance of the season when Rutgers played Princeton last December: She didn’t score, didn’t get to the line, grabbed just four rebounds and played a season-low 12 minutes.
Rutgers assistant coach Nikki McCray-Penson took Cornwell aside and told her what she needed to hear – that she knew Cornwell was capable of a double-double any given night. Don’t let this get to you. Don’t let this define you.
McCray-Penson was remembered as a dynamic, motivational and passionate coach in her nearly two decades working in college basketball. On July 7, she passed away at age 51 following a recurrence of breast cancer, leaving Rutgers to cope with a stunning loss.
“It was a tough summer for us,” Cornwell said this week. “Obviously losing Coach Nikki, that was really tough for us and tough for myself individually. Coach Nikki was always a person who I could talk to, cry to about anything from an emotional standpoint. It was really tough for us as a team, but I feel like it made us stronger and brought us more together.”
For Rutgers to move forward this season, it isn’t enough to spare the occasional thought or word for McCray-Penson now that she’s gone. In fact, to head coach Coquese Washington and the Scarlet Knights, McCray-Penson isn’t gone at all. They’re simply living with her in a new way.
“Her presence and her imprint is all over this program,” Washington said. “We just continue to honor that and don’t sweep it under the rug just because she’s not physically present with us.”
McCray-Penson grew up in Tennessee and played point guard for Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols in the 1990s. A fantastic player in her own right, she was a two-time SEC Player of the Year and later a three-time WNBA All-Star with the Washington Mystics.
Her next WNBA team was the Indiana Fever, where for two seasons she teamed up with another point guard: Coquese Washington. And McCray-Penson contributed to two Team USA rosters that won Olympic gold (1996 and 2000), both times playing with future South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.
When McCray-Penson concluded a playing career that got her inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, she immediately transitioned to coaching and joined Staley’s first staff at South Carolina in 2008. It was there that McCray-Penson was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013. Staley moved coaches’ meetings from the office to McCray-Penson’s chemo appointments until she went into remission later that year.
“We have that shared experience (playing) with her, and then we coached with her,” Washington said of herself and Staley. “The two of us have a unique shared experience of that. It’s kind of like for us, man, we have these stories of her and memories of her in different ways that we can kind of reminisce with each other.”
McCray-Penson helped the Gamecocks win their first national title in 2017 and went on to serve as the head coach at Old Dominion and Mississippi State. But after one season at the latter, she stepped down, citing health concerns. After one season away, she got a call from her former Fever teammate, who had just taken over at Rutgers and was building a staff.
McCray-Penson was the Scarlet Knights’ defensive coordinator, and Washington said that’s one area in particular where her legacy is truly alive at practices this fall.
“Some of the things just from a tactical standpoint, we talk about like, ‘Nikki said we had to do it like this,’” Washington said. “We don’t stop saying that just because she’s not here. And I think the biggest part is just we talk about her all the time.”
On Oct. 22, the Scarlet Knights traveled to South Carolina to face Staley’s team for a charity exhibition in McCray-Penson’s memory. The game benefited In the Middle, a nonprofit organization in Columbia, S.C., that gives financial assistance to women battling breast cancer and their families.
Apart from playing one of the best programs in women’s hoops, it was a chance for Rutgers to see and thank McCray-Penson’s family one more time, including her son, Thomas Penson Jr., who was 10 when his mother died.
Staley spoke of her longtime friend after the game.
“Watching Rutgers, you actually see her on the court, on their bench. I’ve stopped (game film) a few times just to see her, to see her in her element,” Staley said. “… Nikki is someone that’s very dear to me, and I want everybody to know what she brought to the team, what she brought to women’s basketball. It was a tireless work, it was a thankless job that she did every single day, and she wanted nothing but to make other people happy and to equip them with enough knowledge to become pros or whatever niche they want in life.”
Cornwell felt it was a great environment and “a really good day that day” to pay tribute to her coach.
“Coach Nikki was a relentless coach and a relentless player,” Cornwell said. “She always works really hard everywhere she goes. Like, everywhere, she goes hard. I always remember, just always go hard at everything that you do, whether if it’s on the court or just in life.”
The ways McCray-Penson will live on at Rutgers are abundant. Rutgers has dubbed its Nov. 12 home game against Auburn “Nikki McCray-Penson Day,” and the Scarlet Knights will wear a uniform patch honoring her all season. Washington pointed out that McCray-Penson was instrumental in recruiting Texas A&M transfer Mya Petticord and freshman Lisa Thompson to New Jersey. “Every time I look at those two in particular, I think about Nikki, because if it wasn’t for her, they wouldn’t be here,” Washington said.
Like all college basketball teams at this time of year, Rutgers is itching to play some games that count in the standings. The players wouldn’t be prepared for this moment without McCray-Penson, nor without Washington, who shepherded the program through a time of tremendous grief.
“(Washington) keeps her legacy alive,” Cornwell said. “She always includes Coach Nikki in everything, like she’s still here right now. And she is still here in spirit. So she just always honors her in everything.”
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Thanks for stopping by on this Friday. I’m not sure it would be accurate to say that the Rutgers women will play this season with a “heavy heart.” After speaking to Washington and Cornwell, they’re truly treating McCray-Penson like she’s still there, and that might be the greatest way to remember her.
(If you follow women’s basketball, I published a 2,300-word season overview in Wednesday’s edition, and I’ll be sprinkling in more women’s game coverage this season than I have before.)
Depending on when you’re reading this, we’re roughly 72 hours from the start of the 2023-24 college basketball season. We made it, guys. My preseason predictions column will run Monday morning to mark the start of the season. Then, I’ll be in Trenton to cover the Jersey Jam between Princeton and Rutgers that night.
To repeat a previous programming note, I’m about to move to a Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday content schedule for the regular season. Starting Nov. 21, all Tuesday editions will be for paid subscribers only. This will almost never be standard game coverage; I want to make a paid subscription worth the (reasonable) price so I’ll be trying out columns and different statistical analyses in that space, while Thursday and Sunday will be all about news, game takeaways and feature stories from around the state. I encourage you to subscribe, whether free or paid – and if you’d like to pay, $30 per year is a far better deal than $5 recurring every month. This helps put a coffee in my hand and gas in my car as I set out to bring you the most comprehensive New Jersey college basketball coverage one independent writer can provide. Thanks!