Reshanda Gray’s pride night performance inspires in Liberty win

In her second start of the season, Gray proved how much she truly belongs in New York

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Reshanda Gray had her breakout performance in a New York Liberty uniform on Friday night.

Her purple-tinted hair, her giant smile and her patient and cheery disposition are some prominent shades of Gray, who Katie Smith refers to as a “force to be reckoned with.”  It wasn’t farfetched when Amanda Zahui B referred to her teammate as “a beast“.

If anything, Gray unleashed her full “beast” mode in New York’s 69-68 win over Dallas on a night when her story of resilience mattered most. On the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots during the Liberty’s annual Pride Night, Gray led the charge with a double-double and delivered a win and a message to a crowd decked out in the rainbow.

She took center court as a starter for the second straight game replacing Zahui B, who’s competing in the EuroBasket. When asked pregame about transitioning into this role, and what her goals were, she replied that she wanted to stay true to her game.

“At the end of the day, I want to be able to say I’m me, I’m the best Reshanda Gray,” she said. “I just try to run the floor, rebound well, hit shots and just make my teammates’ lives easier.”

Her journey to New York’s starting roster wasn’t without challenges. Drafted 16th by Minnesota in 2015, Gray was traded to Atlanta until the 2017 season. Connecticut picked her up in another trade, but waived her following training camp. Before joining the Liberty’s roster in 2019 and picking up the last available spot, Gray hadn’t played in the league for three regular seasons.

More from New York Liberty

• Marina Johannes: Put some respect on her name
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, October 22: UConn settles with women’s basketball coaches
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, October 12: Sabrina Ionescu is ready to ball
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, September 28: All-Rookie team announced
• Your Day in Women’s Basketball, September 10: Dream are (mathematically) stayin’ alive

Transition is a concept that Gray and her team are used to on and off the hardwood. Before tipoff, we learned that the contest against the Wings would be the last for Liberty Assistant Coach Charmin Smith, who was hired to replace Lindsay Gottlieb as the head coach of Gray’s alma mater, UC Berkley.

Gray played for Smith while she was an assistant at Berkley, and called this reunion with her college coach a dream. “She always stays in my ear,” Gray said.  “She knows when I can do better. She pushes me to my limits and she challenges me to do better.”

Before her days at Cal, Gray’s old high school scouting report on ESPN.com referenced the forward’s commitment to the sport and its process. “The work she’s put in is obvious but there’s still more to be done,” the notes said from her performance at the 2010 Nike Skills Camp.

And while this could be interpreted partially as criticism, Gray has applied it constructively to her game and has taken it to heart.

She takes initiative.

She’s a relentless fighter.

And, she’s a bridge for New York and their fans, showing support on and off the court whenever possible.

Reshanda Gray’s 11 rebounds came on both sides of the ball

Tina Charles has slowed down offensively, and previously head coach Katie Smith equated that to her less aggressive play inside the paint. On Friday however, Smith thought Charles set the tone and came into the post a bit more zealous.

Gray felt Charles’ energy, swooped in, and created second-chance opportunities including some baskets of her own, scoring 13 points.

“It’s nothing that [Tina] said to me, it was her action,” Gray said after the game. “I saw her working hard and it just made me want to work just as hard.”

Gray was also in the right place at the right time when Dallas rookie Arike Ogunbowale would drive the lane or try to test her hand from beyond the arc. Six of Gray’s seven defensive rebounds came off a misfire from Ogunbowale.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Reshanda Gray

In the second half, Gray went airborne – Kara Danvers style. With 5:32 left in the fourth quarter, Gray received a bounce pass from Kia Nurse, made room for herself in the paint and propelled herself into mid-air for an and-one.

“She was imposing her will,” Katie Smith said. “I mean she definitely was in there rebounding on every possession. She ducks in. She’s been working on her finishing and going through with the contact. I think this is what she can do every single night.”

With less than two minutes in regulation, it was Gray who put up New York’s final three points. The two came on a driving layup on a feed from former Cal teammate Brittany Boyd.

Then with 28 seconds remaining in regulation, Gray retrieved a miss from Boyd, which would result in another opportunity for the New York forward to appear at the line for two tries. Gray made the game-winner.

“Make your free throws two-toss”

Charles recovered the ball after regulation and threw her arm around Gray. New York had done it not in spectacular fashion but instead depended on each other for the win.

“I think we did a great job talking to each other,” Asia Durr said in the locker room. “Our posts did a great job. Gray was talking to me. Kia was talking to me all night. So just having each other’s back and just talking to each other really helps us out a lot.”

Gray in mid-air was something else, but she had her issues on the free-throw line, something that her mentor and high school coach Donald Brown would have been on her case for. When the Liberty traveled to L.A. a couple of weeks ago, Gray was featured in a matching white jacket and sneakers that featured a man wearing a Boston Red Sox hat. That man was a mystery until Friday, when she explained her devotion to her former coach. During her trials and tribulations with the WNBA, it was Mr. Brown who kept Gray motivated. He would say, “Use where you are from to motivate you.”

“Long live Mr. Brown,” she said. “That was my high school coach. He died of colon cancer this past March which is the month of colon cancer. He was given six months to live and he ended up living for six years. And when I didn’t play in the league, every day he was telling me too you got this, they are going to see your true potential. Keep working hard. When I went to LA, he couldn’t be there, so I wore the shoes and the jacket to represent him.”

I asked her what Mr. Brown would have said to her following this performance and she joked, “‘Make your free throws two toss.’ In high school they called me two toss. I’m thinking he’s really proud of me. He’s saying, ‘this is who you are, minus the free throws.’”

Someone else who was incredibly proud of Gray was outgoing assistant coach Charmin Smith. In her joint post-game presser with head coach Katie Smith, Charmin acknowledged that Gray is “putting everything she has into this opportunity.”

Tina Charles believes that Charmin and Gray’s bond helped transform Gray into the player she’s been for this New York squad. “I think it was really huge for Reshanda to have Charmin here in the beginning and to motivate her, and her reacclimating herself into the WNBA,” she said. “And I think that has a lot to do with the way she’s been playing.”

For Gray, Smith’s departure is bittersweet. “Well our last game in college, we lost. So I wanted things to be different this time around, so I wanted her to leave out with a win.”

Everything is better with a Unicorn

Reshanda Gray was a social welfare major in college.  Aside from pounding the paint and plowing through the key, ironically, her MO is giving back. That was apparent according to Brittany Boyd, her teammate of four years.

“I think she’s a giving person,” she said. “I feel like she’d give you the shirt off her back if she needed to. I feel like she’d give you the last of her food. She is one of those people who is giving. She gives so much, she gives so much. I think she’s being rewarded, especially from the higher power, just giving in, giving in. And what she does every day and that’s being consistent in whatever and however she lives her life.”

Her social media handle is nograyareas21, which is named properly after her nonprofit organization that she created to mentor young women based in California. The name could have an array of meanings. It could be pointing toward controlling fate and destiny. It could allude to an idea that there aren’t any uncertainties in Gray’s purpose in this world.

It’s not a coincidence that Gray had a breakout game on the evening that celebrates people for being their unique selves. This wasn’t a victory only for Gray, for her team, but for the fans as well. After the game, Gray was spotted signing t-shirts for Teaneck High School’s girls basketball team.

Her performance against Dallas was a metaphor for her WNBA journey. It was a grind and it was far from easy.  “She’s a hard worker,” Boyd said. “She’s a blue-collar player. I personally think she can’t be stopped. It’s not new to me, maybe to everybody else, but it’s not new to me.”

Reshanda Gray reminded us all of the courage it takes to reach our own unicorn moments.

Love our 24/7 women’s basketball coverage? Join our Patreon now and support this work, while getting extra goodies and subscriber-only content for yourself.