Girls Prof player shoots 50, breaks record

Mom: ‘It’s in her blood. She’s just getting better and better with age’

MIDDLETOWN — Two games into the city’s Prof Gallitto Girls Basketball season and 13-year-old guard/ forward Janeya Grant is already making history.

The 5-feet, 9-inch tall eighth-grader, who wears a size 12 men’s shoe, attends Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford and has been playing in Middletown’s league since 2012. She broke the long-standing record Saturday after making 50 points — all the points scored by her team of that day.

In a coincidence, the league’s previous 40-point record was set by the first-year coach of her 2-0 team the Supremes, said Julia Gomez, who called the accomplishment “a big happy moment.”

During her first game Nov. 10, Janeya scored 26 points and had 11 rebounds; and Nov. 17, along with breaking the record by making 21 points in the first half and 29 in the second, she made 14 rebounds.

Gomez, now 29, was at Woodrow Wilson Middle School when she broke the shooting record after making 42 points in a game.

Like Janeya, “I knew what it felt like to be acknowledged — it felt great.”

It sure did, Janeya said ahead of practice Tuesday.

“My heart was beating really fast. I didn’t know I was the first to break the record,” she said. “I knew I had the ability. Afterward, everyone was coming up to me, asking it I was the one who scored. I was so excited.”

“She reminds me of myself. I felt like it was God’s plan” to coach a female player with such early talent, Gomez said. “I push her to try to be the best she can be,” said Gomez, a 2007 graduate of Middletown High School.

Janeya’s mother, Jessica Mclellan, who played varsity at MHS, was a point guard/ shooting guard.

“In the years of working on her craft, working with her father, she’s played for multiple teams — it’s in her blood. She’s just getting better and better with age,” said Mclellan, who counsels her daughter about curbing her discontent during games.

“I know it’s easier said than done. Over the years, coaches will give her little pep talks and throw her back in the game. She’s learned to adjust a little bit more. We always tell her, ‘I know it’s hard, but just go out there and play your game. You know what to do,” Mclellan said.

Also team captain, Janeya is coming off her first two years of playing in the third to fifth-grade Prof teams. “It was a lot of frustration, and she tried to carry the team,” her coach said. This year, games run at a much faster pace, with more aggressive players who aren’t subbed out every five minutes, said Gomez, who has been working with Janeya .

She also tells Janeya not to be so driven that she forgets the joy of her accomplishments. “I want all the kids to practice hard, and during the game, have fun,” Gomez said.

“It’s about paying attention, studying the game. Basketball (uses) a lot of mental skills,” said Gomez, who grew up playing with all boys except for one girlfriend who would hit the court with her.

Janeya’s father, 6-foot-7inch Kareem Grant, new coach of the freshman boys basketball team at Middletown High School, said his eldest daughter first showed interest at 7. He was a high school star and played professional ball for seven years in seven countries in Europe and the Middle East through 2013.

Grant, also a guard/forward, played for the now defunct Hartford Lightning minor league team, and graduated from St. Thomas More High School in Oakdale in 2006. He transferred there after completing his freshman and sophomore years at Middletown High School. Grant averaged more than 20 points a game. In Saudi Arabia, his record was 32 points a game.

For the past two years, he’s played for the Connecticut Sun. “I used to bring her to the practices with me, and she used to meet all the players. This past summer, she had a free-throw contest with one of the star players” — power forward/center Jonquel Jones. Janeya beat the 24-year-old WNBA player in the competition.

“Since then I can see the growth in her. That was her summer — her being able to hang around and be with female athletes,” Grant said.

Her coach knows athletics are often a challenge for female athletes.

“Just because you’re a girl, it doesn’t mean you can’t be great in sports. It doesn’t always have to be cheerleading or gymnastics,” said Gomez, who calls Janeya very smart, wise and humble. Gomez often reminds her girls they are athletes/ students, and, as such, should always place their academics in high regard.

“You can be as good as you want, but without the grades, it’s going to be very hard to get into a good college,” said Gomez, who also tries to build up Janeya’s confidence.

“Now you’re standing out. Some men don’t even get 50. When you’re a female, you’ve got to work extra hard and really get noticed to get compared to men. All the boys are talking about her in town: She’s better than some of the boys,” Grant said.

“This is her breakout year,” Grant added. This year and last, she practiced alongside upperclassmen on the MHS varsity basketball team, the only younger player to do so.

“She doesn’t have that cocky, arrogant attitude some players can get” when they’re better than other athletes. Sometimes players as good as Janeya feel the weight of winning on their shoulders. Gomez reminds her she doesn’t have to carry the team.

“I get it, because that was me. You want to go, go, go,” she said.

For mom, it’s sometimes trying to see what her daughter goes through.

“I’m not on the court with her, and just sitting on the sidelines it’s frustrating just to watch. I foresee her becoming a better leader and teaching the younger players,” Mclellan said.

“She would get double teamed. I explained to her, ‘That’s smart basketball. They know you’re going to be the one to score all these points — they’re definitely going to double team you, because they want to win, too,’ ” Mclellan tells her.

Her mom often asks Janeya what she’d like to be when she grows up, but also encourages her to think realistically. “Playing in the WNBA, that’s our second plan, but we still need a first plan,” McLellan said.

It’s taken longer for women to establish themselves in the sport than it has for men over these past few decades.

“It was always a guy thing to do. It’s almost like you’ve got to prove you’re better than them, because there are a lot of girls who are better than them, but you can’t tell them that. She’s got to go out there and show them how it’s done,” Gomez added.

For information on the league, visit middletownsports.org.

Contributed photo Thirteen-year-old Middletown eighth-grader Janeya Grant broke the Prof Gallitto Girls Basketball League game record by 10 points this past weekend, scoring 50 points in the game.

Contributed photo Sometimes basketball players as good as Janeya Grant feel the weight of winning on their shoulders. Her coach, Julia Gomez, reminds the 13-year-old she doesn’t have to carry the team during games.