“The three is who I am.”
Jessica Wall stood still and craned her neck upwards to admire her work.
Seconds earlier she was streaking down the sand-colored hardwood floor, ready for the ball. She relaxed her arms above her hips as if to say, “Hit me–I got this.” The ball-handler made a quick cut to the left, as Wall trailed the play on the right sideline. Wall didn’t need to wave her hands in the air. It was as if her UNC-Asheville teammate received her message. The point-guard whipped her head around and fired the ball into Wall’s awaiting hands.
Wall quickly chopped her feet in preparation of her shot. She was in rhythm, like a composer in the middle of a performance. She stood more than five feet beyond the three point arc–Steph Curry range.
It didn’t matter. There was no hesitation. Wall released the ball in the blink of an eye.
The defender tried to leap in a last-second attempt to alter the shot, but it was too late. She must not have known whom she was guarding. Maybe the scouting report got blown away into the Asheville mountain peaks.
The second the ball left her fingertips, the bench rose up and hoisted three fingers in the air, something that her teammates customarily did when Wall launched a three-pointer, and she loved it. Wall is filled with confidence when she knows that her teammates believe in her.
Wall lowered her arms back to her side and watched the orange sphere soar through the air at Kimmel Arena.
Splash.
The ball cut through the middle of the net. Nothing. But. Net.
Wall didn’t celebrate, as she doesn’t show much emotion when she plays. Usually she just nods her head. Or sometimes she’ll curl her fingers into a “3” and point it to floor.
But this time, she just admired it.
***
Wall hit three-pointers with regularity over the course of her career at UNC-Asheville. On February 9, Wall broke the all-time three-point record at UNC-Asheville when she hit her 208th trey in a game at Campbell University.
“When I hit the shot, I knew it in the back of my head, and it was really special,” Wall said. “We were playing in a tight game, so I couldn’t think about it too much. It was definitely a really cool moment because, coming into college, I never really expected to do something like that.”
Before Wall was setting records with the Bulldogs in the North Carolina mountains, she was part of a historic run at Chapel Hill High School.
Wall began at Chapel Hill High School during a rough patch in the Chapel Hill women’s basketball program. The year before, Chapel Hill posted a mediocre 13-12 record. Wall wanted to help change the culture of the program.
Sherry Norris, who coached Wall all four years at Chapel Hill, had built a relationship with Wall even before Wall stepped on campus. Norris was Wall’s gym teacher for six years at Seawell Elementary School. Norris watched Wall play basketball during recess and after school, and knew how great of an athlete she was.
Wall impressed Norris again years later, this time as a freshman at Chapel Hill. Wall earned a spot on varsity as a freshman and played in all 30 of the Tigers’ games.
“She was an excellent passer and shooter, and her work ethic was incredible,” Norris said. “She was unselfish in her play and always put her team first.”
The Tigers went 27-3 in an incredible turnaround from the previous season, dominating their opponents before losing in the fourth round of state playoffs.
Wall and Chapel Hill built on their success in her sophomore season. She was, again, a key player for the Tigers, averaging 7.4 points per game. Chapel Hill advanced all the way to the state championship but was eventually defeated by Harding High School.
Wall and her teammates used the loss as fuel in the next season, pushing each other to improve.
“I think that we all took that feeling [of losing in the championship] and didn’t want to have that feeling again,” Wall said. “We just started preparing from that moment to get back there, and that’s what we did.”
Wall cherished every minute that she was out on the court competing with her teammates.
Chapel Hill responded with a magical season in Wall’s junior year, going a perfect 32-0 and capturing a state championship.
“It was unreal. Coming into high school basketball, I didn’t know that could be a possibility for us. I knew that we were good, but it wasn’t something that I had thought about,” Wall said.
Norris understood the rarity of the season and the hard-work that her players put in to make it happen.
“The 32-0 season is something that all coaches dream of but rarely achieve,” Norris said. “It was an incredible group of players.”
Winning the game at the Dean E. Smith Center made the moment even more memorable for Wall.
“Growing up, I watched Carolina play there, and being able to play there and win a state championship was really special,” Wall said.
The momentum continued for Wall in her senior season. She knocked down a team-high 38 three pointers over the course of the season and found herself in the state championship for the third straight year.
However, in her last game wearing “Chapel Hill” on the front of her jersey, Wall and the Tigers came up short, losing to Hickory High School.
“It was definitely a very fun four years,” Wall said. “Being able to be part of a team that could come in there and change that made it special.”
Early in her high school career, Wall didn’t get the attention from college coaches that she had hoped for. She felt like she was doing everything that she could to get to the next level but wasn’t seeing the results.
When Wall started to get discouraged, her coaches and family picked her up, told her to keep pushing and she would get an opportunity.
She finally did.
In her last two years at Chapel Hill, one school was consistent in recruiting her: UNC-Asheville. When she took a visit, Wall was immediately sold.
“The team and coaches were amazing. They always reached out to me and kept in touch and made me feel like home in Asheville,” Wall said. “They made me want to come to Asheville without a doubt.”
UNC-Asheville ended up being Wall’s only offer to play basketball, and she didn’t let the school down.
And at UNC-Asheville, Wall again found herself in a familiar situation.
The year before she headed to the North Carolina mountains, UNC-Asheville had a record of 9-22.
This wasn’t anything new for Wall. She been thrown into the same situation as a freshman in high school. She knew exactly what to do: trust her coaches because they know what is best. Wall’s attitude immediately made a positive impression on UNC-Asheville coach Brenda Kirkpatrick and the rest of the coaching staff.
“We always knew that we were going to get great effort and buy-in from her everyday in practice and in the games,” Kirkpatrick said. “As a coach, knowing what you are going to get from each player is so valuable to the success of the program, and we were able to rely on Jessica every day.”
Wall was asked to step into a substantial role as a freshman, as she averaged 15.8 minutes per game. Wall’s mindset paid off as the Bulldogs thrived, winning the Big South Conference regular season title and tallying 26 wins.
The program went from nine wins to 26 in one short year. Maybe it should be called “the Wall effect.”
The Bulldogs also won the Big South Conference tournament, earning a bid to the 2016 NCAA tournament.
It definitely should be called “the Wall effect.”
“It’s every player’s dream,” Wall said about playing in the tournament. “To be able to play against some of the best teams in the nation and experience that atmosphere and level of play was really fun.”
It was obvious that the Bulldogs were not satisfied with the great season. They continued their winning ways in 2016, taking home another Big South Conference championship and securing another spot in the NCAA tournament.
Wall built off of her freshman year, starting 22 games and knocking in 37 three-pointers over the course of the season. She also posted a new career high of 18 points in a game against Radford University.
But it was the time between her sophomore and junior years when Wall saw her game take off as she became a lethal three-point shooter.
Wall worked with her coaches on her three-point shot. They made it clear: “Don’t stop shooting.”
In her first two years, Wall ran the offense and took the shots when they were there. In her junior year, she started to be more aggressive on the offensive end.
She worked and worked. Her coaches and teammates gave her huge boosts of confidence. And as her confidence increased, so did the results.
Wall went off in her junior year. She hit a school-record 90 three pointers during the season and stroked a single-game record of nine three-pointers against Furman. She was also Asheville’s most durable player, racking up 1,147 minutes on the floor throughout the year.
“She became a more aggressive player and had to hunt shots because defenses were guarding her tightly,” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick also saw Wall make big strides as a leader on the court.
“Jessica was already a great leader by example, so stepping into a more vocal role was where she had the most growth over the past four years,” Kirkpatrick said. “She has great insight, and it was just a matter of her learning to exercise her voice a little bit more.”
The threes kept raining during her senior season as she broke the school record.
Many coaches passed up on Wall during her recruitment, but Kirkpatrick saw promise in Wall and gave her an opportunity. Wall took advantage of it.
“Not only did she excel at the Division I level, she had a record-breaking career at UNC-Asheville and also ranks among the Big South’s best three-point shooters,” Kirkpatrick said. “Seeing her break the records was affirmation of our belief in her and also her belief in herself and a testament to the hard work she put in over the four years.”
Looking back on her career, from intense practices to record-breaking shots, Wall loved every minute of it.
“My time at UNC-Asheville has been the best four years of my life. It has been such an incredible experience, just being able to bring some of that success that I brought in high school here,” Wall said.
With her career over at UNC-Asheville, Wall reflected on the impact she has had on the community.
“In Asheville, there are a lot of younger girls who watch us play, and I know quite a few of them from working at camps during the summer,” Wall said. “They tell me, ‘I love watching you play.’ Hearing that from younger kids makes me want to be a role model for them.”
Wall is pursuing a career in professional basketball, which may take her overseas, but her long-term plan is to get into coaching and give opportunities to the next generation of girls–just as UNC-Asheville gave her.
“When I was little, I just played for fun, but when I got older, I saw all of the opportunities that could come with it. Basketball has gotten me an education. It gave me one of the best experiences of my life,” Wall said.
