Rocky Mount’s Spivey shows rebounding not all about height

Keyanna Spivey doesn’t care that she’s 5-foot-8, a bit undersized for a post player in girls basketball. The Rocky Mount senior says rebounds are much more than just height.

“I’ve just got to get in the right position. Size is not a real big factor for me. All I have to do is outwork my opposition,” Spivey said. “You can be bigger than me, but I don’t see that as stopping what I need to do or stopping what my team needs me to do.”

Spivey tracked down 15 rebounds in a 66-49 victory against Hunt on Monday to remain in first place of the Big East 3A Conference. On several of those boards, she got fouled on the putback attempt.

“A credit to her – we didn’t do a good job of making entry passes, so she went and got it herself. We need everyone to play with that energy and enthusiasm,” said coach Pam Gainey. “She’s a go-getter. She plays hard, and there’s no remedy for that; you can’t teach that. She brings that every night.”

Spivey went to the line almost more than Hunt’s whole team did – shooting 24 (the Warriors shot 25) and making 17 of them for almost half of her game-high 35 points.

“She continued to work, continued to do things and eventually things started to happen for her,” Spivey said.

Spivey hopes to play in college next year and knows she’ll likely have to play more wing because of her size. But for now, she’s focused on bringing home a conference title. The Gryphons enter the week tops in the league.

“We’ve been trying to do this for a number of years now, and it’s time to go do it,” Spivey said.

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 9:49 AM with the headline "Rocky Mount’s Spivey shows rebounding not all about height."