Kaylee Jensen flourished into go-to star
STILLWATER — The breakthrough moment came in late December 2015 inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Oklahoma State’s Kaylee Jensen had 10 points and nine rebounds in 38 minutes of action during the Cowgirls’ upset of a Baylor team that was ranked No. 4 at the time.
None of her totals were the best on the team that night, but it was the moment Jensen showed what type of player she could be.
Jensen, a preseason All-Big 12 first-team selection, will open her senior year at 11 a.m. Friday when the Cowgirls host Incarnate Word at Gallager-Iba.
The 6-foot-4 Jensen led the Big 12 in points per game (18.7 points), rebounds per game (10.5) and double doubles (17) last season, flourishing into the player that began to emerge that December night against Baylor.
“We knew then that she was capable of being a really good player,” OSU coach Jim Littell said. “It’s always been a matter of her getting to where she needs to be shape-wise, but she’s been a young lady who’s always had great feet, great hands. Unbelievable strength. Finishes on the block, but still has the ability to step out and make the 15-footer and also shoot the 3.
Coming into the program as a freshman was a transition for Jensen, who is from Genoa, Nebraska, and went to Linsday Holy Family School, a tiny school in nearby Lindsay, Nebraska.
“It was a small classification school,” Littell said. “There was an adjustment to the speed of the game, and an adjustment to how you practice, too. The intensity level at practice, the length of practice, just a transformation of becoming a Division I player.
“But there’s an adjustment for everyone that comes in, whether they’re a high school player, a junior-college player. There’s a transition for all of them coming in.”
Jensen’s first basket will be a milestone for her, and a sign of how far she’s come in four years.
She enters the game one point shy of the 1,200point mark for her career.
“She elevated her game,” Littell said. “She became someone we could count on as a go-to player.”