Tenley Davis has become a two-sport dynamo for Chesterton this school year.
After leading the girls volleyball team in kills and aces, the 6-foot-1 sophomore is making a similar impact for the girls basketball team.
“I just love sports, and it’s my competitive nature,” Davis said. “If I’m good at it and I’m able to do it, then let’s just do it and see where it goes.”
Davis is averaging 18.1 points and 8.1 rebounds, which are team highs for the Trojans (6-3) and well beyond the 6.0 points and 4.9 rebounds she posted as a freshman. She credits her time in AAU over the summer.
“It completely changed the way I played,” she said. “Last season, I wasn’t as aggressive. I let people push me around. But now I’m just a lot more aggressive and stronger.”
Chesterton girls basketball coach Jack Campbell raved about Davis’ offensive work in the paint but was just as complimentary about what the forward can do away from the basket.
“She’s one of our better perimeter shooters too,” Campbell said. “But she also does a great job of posting up. When she sits down and gets big inside, if we get her the ball, she has a chance to score or get to the foul line.”
Davis thinks she can be even more effective from the outside.
“I have a really good shot,” she said. “But sometimes I’ll hesitate or just won’t have the confidence to shoot it. I feel like I should use it more.”
Campbell said Davis’ physical tools also pose problems for opposing ballhandlers.
“We’ll put her at the top of our 1-3-1 zone, and with her being 6-1, she really makes it difficult for teams,” Campbell said. “She can run like a deer, so if the ball gets deflected or intercepted, she can release and get down to the other end of the court.”
Basketball is just part of the story for Davis. She starred as an outside hitter in volleyball this past season, recording 395 kills and 62 aces, and drew effusive praise from coach Lindsay Fisher.
“She plays the way she does because she respects and loves the sport and wants to do the sport justice through her play,” Fisher said. “And she’s also a competitor. Her passion and competitive nature fuel her energy.”
Campbell offered a similar take on the way Davis approaches basketball.
“She always practices hard,” Campbell said. “With some kids, you have to stay on them, but she practices hard all the time, and that carries over into game situations. She’s everything you’d want in a basketball player and a teammate.”
Davis is fully immersed in basketball and volleyball, playing on other teams when she’s not representing Chesterton. She has also played softball but said she’s probably going to let that sport go, which would allow her to devote so much time to the other two that she may need a personal assistant to keep her schedules aligned.
Davis has one.
“That’d be my mom,” she said with a laugh.
Tanya (Popiela) Davis, a 1992 Crown Point graduate, played basketball and volleyball in high school and at St. Joseph’s College. She said she didn’t have to convince her daughter to follow a similar path. Tenley Davis found it herself.
“She’s very self-motivated,” Tanya Davis said. “I never have to push her to get up and go to these practices or games. She’s always ready to go. She’s just 100% an athlete who loves the competitive side of everything.”
Tenley Davis could end up as a two-sport athlete in college as well. She thinks it would be more likely if she opted for something smaller than a Division I school. But she’s in no rush to make that decision.
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “We’ll see.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
