« DI Women’s Basketball 2012-13

Layshia Clarendon

School
California
Position
Guard
Major
American Studies
PPG
16.4
RPG
4.0
APG
2.9

Classroom

Clarendon owns a cumulative GPA of 3.456 and is majoring in American studies with a concentration of Gender and Media. Despite the academic rigors of the No. 1 public institution in the country and the time demands placed on a Division I student-athletes, Clarendon is on track to graduate in May 2013. Last spring, she had the highest GPA on the Cal squad.

Character

The Cal women’s basketball team is made up of a group of talented, diverse, fun-loving, gregarious, hard-working student-athletes. Amidst this solid team and family network, Clarendon has emerged as the leader. Clarendon is known as the quiet assassin. While immensely talented, she isn’t loud or showy on the court preferring, instead, to lead by example. Her example is one that embodies teamwork, work ethic and integrity. She is the first player in the gym each and every day. Clarendon goes hard on every single rep in practice and every second in a game. In fact, the Cal coaching staff has noted that they’ve never coached a harder worker than Clarendon. What is even more remarkable than her elite effort level, however, is the way in which she has grown into a complete leader. Inclined towards introversion, Clarendon was hesitant to be vocal as a freshmen and sophomore. Over the last year, however, she has pushed herself out of her comfort zone and found her voice, because that is what the team needed most. She took the team’s outstanding freshman point guard under her wing, becoming both her workout partner and mentor. She knows when to motivate the entire team, or when to pull an individual aside for a pep talk. In making herself an even more complete leader, Clarendon has helped our entire team to grow. She is selfless, relentlessly hard working and dedicated to greatness in all aspects of her life.

Community

When it comes to being involved, Clarendon is the first person that comes to mind when thinking about the Cal team. Whenever there is a volunteer team activity, Clarendon is the first to sign up and encourage others to join. Anything from serving quarterly meals at the homeless shelter, putting on clinics for non-profit organizations to the many other service events hosted by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee that she is a member of – Clarendon’s smile is seen all over the Berkeley community. Clarendon has embraced the opportunities for involvement on Cal’s larger campus as well. There are three main extracurricular activities that Clarendon dedicates her limited free time to. The first is being a note taker for the Disabled Students Program. This service provides thorough lecture notes for students who are incapable, either physically or mentally, of taking notes for themselves. Despite taking a full course load, her commitment to basketball and working on her undergraduate thesis, Clarendon continues to provide notes for disabled students in her major. The second is a program called Athletes in Action that brings student-athletes together for faith-based activities. Clarendon is an active member and leader in this organization. She attends and leads weekly meetings as well as participates in community service events such as serving the homeless, collecting goods for underprivileged families and fundraising for churches in lower socio economic communities. Lastly, Clarendon is a committed member of the Gay Straight Alliance on campus and Athlete Ally nationally. These groups are focused on anti-bullying and the promotion of acceptance of the LGBT community. Clarendon has pledged to be an example of tolerance and fight for equality. The variety of her service is a reflection of who she is as a person, well rounded, open minded, compassionate and dedicated to making a difference. When a teammate was asked recently in an interview about Clarendon, she said, “out of all the teammates I have had throughout my life; Layshia is the one who inspires me the most”.

Competition

Last year, Clarendon led the Bears to finish second in the Pac-12 and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. For her efforts, she was lauded as a WBCA All-American. The All-Region VIII honoree was also named to the All-Pac-12 first team, averaging 12.8 ppg. After scoring 20 points in the conference final against Stanford, she was also named to the All-Pac-12 Tournament team. Clarendon will head into the 2012-13 campaign 138 points shy of being in the top-10 in program history in career points scored (1,230). As a sophomore in 2010-11, she was All-Pac-10 honorable mention. She led the team in assists (119, 6th in the Pac-10) and was second in scoring (13.2 points per game, 9th in the Pac-10) and had a 1.09 assist-to-turnover ratio, best on the team (7th in the Pac-10).  As a freshman in 2009-10, she was honorable mention for the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team. She started 28 games, was third on the team in scoring, averaging 8.9 points per game and led the team in free throw shooting percentage