Jan. 20, 2012
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Jasmine Lister was a Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team selection last year after leading Head Coach Melanie Balcomb’s Vanderbilt squad in scoring average and minutes played. The Corona, Calif., native was one of two Commodores to start every game. Lister discussed her favorite things about basketball and dealing with life away from her twin sister.
On playing with her twin sister, Cinnamon:
“She’d play the one, I’d play the two. Or I’d play the one, she’d play the two. We’d just mix it up in the game. It was just real fun.”
On being separated from her twin, who attends Boise State:
“We’ve always both had our own personality on the court. We kind of play different, but we still kind of play the same. This gave us a chance to be more independent and not rely on each other to make a play. We knew where each other were on the court, but now it’s like we kind of get to have our own identity.”
On her earliest basketball memories:
“I always played at my church league with my sister. And we would play at the park at middle school all day. I remember during spring break we would go there every day and just stay all day playing basketball with the boys. It was a lot of fun.”
On wearing No. 11:
“My sister and I both like double numbers. I was No. 22 in high school, she was 33. But those both were taken at one of the collegesâ€â€Â22 was taken here, 33 was taken there. We decided to be No. 11 so we could both match numbers, and we got our fingers tattooed [with #11].”
On prefering point or shooting guard:
“I’ve always thought of myself as a scoring point guard. I can dish it out, but I can still score at the same time. I wouldn’t want to chooseâ€â€ÂI think I can do both.”
On Coach Balcomb’s offense:
“There’s a structure, but you still get your freedomâ€â€Âyou can shoot, you can drive, but it all works with the structure. That’s what I like about it most.”
On moving to Tennessee:
“It was a real blessing to have this opportunity. I knew what Vanderbilt was and how good they are, but I had no idea they would have ever been interested in me. I’d always wanted to get outside of California for college just for cultural reasons and different experiences. It’s really different than California, but I like it. My parents came out here last year for the SEC Tournament and they [were] here for the Thanksgiving Tournament this year.”
