LaTanya ("Tan") White rocked both Mississippi State University and the Southeastern Conference last year, breaking records and gathering up honors during a fantastic freshman year.

She tallied 134 assists, 52 three-pointers, and 1090 minutes of playing time to shatter three freshman records at MSU. She posted 575 points her freshman year to finish 3rd in the SEC in points, with 18.5 per game. She finished 4th in the conference in steals with 91, 7th in rebounds with 223 (7.2 per game), and 8th in the SEC in assists with 134, and 3-point field goals with 53. The Basketball Times designated her first team freshman All-America, and the AP handed her the SEC Newcomer of the Year Award.

This year, the sophomore guard is back again, playing alongside senior powerhouse LaToya Thomas, a Gballmag.com preseason All-America pick.

GBall talked to Tan about her secret to shooting 3-pointers, what it's like to break a record, how she chose MSU, and why her dad is her most important athletic influence.

Gball: How old were you when you started playing and how did you get started?
White: My mom says I picked up a basketball when I was three. By the time I was five, I was playing in gym class, playing pick-up games on the playground with the boys. As I got older, my dad and I started playing a lot, and things developed from there.

You list your biggest athletic influences as your parents. Why?
They expect the best out of me and they push me hard. They drive an hour to come to all my home games to support me. My dad especially really loves to see me doing this. He's guided me throughout my basketball career so far.

What was their reaction to your success last year as a freshman?
They just told me to keep working harder! I don't actually get to talk to them as much as I want, and it's hard for me to get time to visit home, but I know that their expectation is for me to keep trying and keep getting better, and that pushes me.

What is the most important thing you are working on this year?
Endurance and defense. Shooting has always come pretty easily to me, but I have to work on my defensive game. Endurance is a big piece of playing good defense, so I'm trying to get in better shape. I'm running and conditioning harder than I ever have before.

What is the most important thing a high school coach ever taught you?
My high school coach taught me not to give up. No matter how hard it is, you have to keep going. That's something I think about when it gets hard for me out here. I remember her telling me that, and I just stay at it. My first year of high school was also my coach's first year there. So that was neat. She still comes to watch my games and support me now that I'm here.

Are you encountering some of the same players you knew in high school on the college court?
Yeah, I see a lot of the same faces, so that's pretty interesting. I have girls on my team right now who I played against in high school.

Why did you choose MSU?
I was heavily recruited, so I could have chosen just about any school that I wanted. I visited three schools, and I could tell I'd be comfortable at MSU. It was important to me to be close to home, and if I'd gone seven or eight hours away, I knew I would have been homesick. My advice is, if you enjoy being away from home, that's great -- go to a school further away. But don't let anybody talk you into doing something you're not comfortable with. You have to trust yourself.

I also liked the idea of coming to a program where my help was needed. This is the best place for me.

What has been the biggest difference between high school and college ball?
College is a lot of hard work! Whenever you take your game to the next level, you find out there is much more work to be done. Most high school programs are kind of laid back, and there's not a lot of conditioning. Once you get to the college level, it's a lot of endurance work, a lot of time out on the court. You're practicing two or three hours, when in high school, you practiced an hour and a half. Here, most of my time goes into basketball. It's 20 to 25 hours a week, three hours a day, including weights and a lot of hard running. There's a really big endurance piece that you don't always see at the high school level, because the game itself is a lot faster paced.

How do you keep your grades up with the big time commitment?
You've got to keep everything in balance. We go to class from about 8 a.m. to noon every day. Then we have practice until 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and then we go to study hall for the rest of the evening. You don't have time to fool around -- you have to take care of business. Pretty much any time you have to yourself has to be spent doing schoolwork if you're going to keep up. You have tutors who help you four to six hours a week. You study on the road, too. When it comes to the crunch times of year, we get a little break. For example, we took the week before Christmas break easy and didn't spend as much time at practice as usual because of finals.

When you look around at other students who don't play a sport at the level you do, are you envious of their free time?
In college, there are always going to be times when there's a party going on and you wish you could be there, but you know you've got a game tomorrow. Other people might be going out more, staying out later. But as far as I'm concerned, that stuff can wait. There will always be time for parties later in my life, so why take that chance now when I have a game to play? You really have to sit down and ask yourself what you want and what you're willing to sacrifice to get there.

You made 52 three-pointers last year and broke MSU's freshman record. What's your secret?
There is no secret! You just get good looks at the goal and go for it. I think maybe I take more three-point shots than other people do. I really didn't even know I had broken the record until afterward.

Did you throw a lot of 3-point shots in high school?
No, most of my points actually came from fast breaks. I think with LaToya here with me, the inside position is taken care of, so me taking outside shots is a threat to the opposing team, since they don't know if we're going to penetrate or shoot. My freshman year, they knew our strength was penetrating and driving, so they left me open for the outside shots.

So, this year, do opposing teams know what you're up to?
Yeah, and it's getting harder! My first year, a few people may have heard of me, but they hadn't seen me play. Now everybody's had a year to look at me and they know what I'm capable of, so they're covering me more.

You actually broke three freshman records. What's it like to break a record?
Maybe in the long run, it will feel all right to know I broke records. Most of the time, though, you're not out there to break records. You're out there to play, and records will get broken in the process. You find out afterward. It is exciting, but I think later on it will mean more to me, when I look back on it.

What has been the biggest moment for you so far?
The game that I always think about is Tennessee, on Valentine's Day my freshman year. Even though we lost by one point at the buzzer, it was the fact that we almost won. We played a great game. In fact, I think that was our best game. It was exciting for me because I've wanted to play Tennessee since high school.

What big moment are you still waiting for?
Beating Tennessee! No question‹that's it. We play them January 26, away. The fact that it's away is going to be the biggest challenge. They lost a few players and picked up a few since last year, but I think it will be basically the same team we played last year.

What do you do before a big game to prepare mentally?
I stay to myself for a little while, and try to relax and clear my head.

In the middle of a tough game when you're tired, how do you keep yourself going?
I practice to play. I go hard during practice and the whole time, what I'm waiting for is game time. There's a lot of adrenaline pushing me. With an up-tempo game, most of the time, I don't really feel the fatigue. Once in a while, I do, and I think that's mostly mental. I find a way to get myself through it.

Think of a game where your team was down by a lot of points and came back to win. How did you get the momentum going back your way?
I remember last year at Georgia, we were down 10 points with 48 seconds left, and we actually came back and won. They eased off at the end -- with 48 seconds left, everybody thought is was over with. We wanted that game badly and we really stepped up then. We got four steals and forced some turnovers. We ended up shooting two free throws with under a second left, and came back and won it. It was one of the most exiting games -- to have pulled through as a team and won was great. It was something we did as a team, and it took the entire team wanting it badly enough. One or two people can't do it all at this level. It's a team effort.

How do you shake off a loss?
I just think about the fact that it's over and there's nothing I can do about it, and I start looking at the next one. I look at the mistakes I made and work on them in practice and try to correct them the next game. You have to put something behind you in order to move forward.

What do you think of all the traveling?
Nobody likes it! As a freshman, I'd hear older girls saying they hated all the road games and I didn't understand why. But now that my freshman year is over with, I get it. It's a lot of extra stress. I miss the home court advantage and our fan support.

You want UConn added to your schedule. Why?
From seeing them play last year, I just know we could beat them if we had a chance. It's the same with Tennessee. They'll have a great game against somebody else, and we're saying, ³We can't wait to play them!² I start thinking, all of these other good teams are losing to them, but if we had a chance, how close could we come? Could we win? I love the opportunity to play great teams.

Head Coach Sharon Fanning has been the most successful women's basketball coach in MSU history. What's it like to play for her?
She's a great coach. When I was choosing a college, I looked for a place where I sensed that the coach was going to make me feel comfortable, and I've found that here. It's important to me that the coach is someone I can talk to, and Coach Fanning definitely is.

Why do you think she's been as successful as she has at MSU? People who are determined to be successful find ways to make it happen. I think some of the kids she's picked have had the heart to make something of themselves here, so she has players who want to work. She has the drive to win and so do the people playing for her.

What's it like to play with LaToya Thomas?
I played against her in high school. Playing with her, it's great knowing there's someone out there on the same page with me who can make things happen and help get everybody else to that level too. It's great to have someone like her on your team.

She's a senior and you're a sophomore, so next year will probably be very different without her. When you were in high school, did you ever face the situation of losing a strong player and going on yourself?
Yes. There were two very strong players on my high school team, me and one other girl. She graduated when I had one year left. Everything suddenly pointed to me. When LaToya graduates, though, all of the responsibility doesn't really fall on me. It's on the person who's next to her, moving into her position, and if I can get them on the same page, we'll come through it. I can work with anybody.

Are there other players on the team who can step up to the challenge of being great role players?
We have a lot of help, because there are a lot of strong players on our team. They're all freshmen right now, so they're all new to this. It's going to take a few SEC games for them to actually pick up the pace to this level. Once they get exposed to how the game is played in the SEC, they'll get used to it. The games we've played so far have all been non-conference games, and we're winning them all, but it's faster-paced in the SEC. For them to understand just how much endurance and how much more work and energy it's going to take, they have to get a few games in. Then everybody will start seeing that we have a lot of strong players. They just haven't come out to be seen yet, but I think it will happen this year. I think everybody will eventually see it.

You're a psychology major. What are you planning to do with your degree?
I want to counsel kids. I hope to go to graduate school, depending on what happens.

And could what happens be playing professional basketball?
I believe I could take my game to the next level. I hope the circumstances will work out for me to do that. It's something I've always dreamed about. A few years ago, when I was in high school, the WNBA came out, and I thought, there's my chance. The start of the WNBA is something I've always wished for that has come true. We'll see what the future brings.

Do you have any advice for our readers?
Continue to work hard. There will always be peer pressure, but you have to decide what you want out of life and just stick to it and not let other things distract you, because there will always be things to sidetrack you from your goals if you let them. Get your mind set on something that you want to do and then go for it. Don't let anything discourage you.

Interview conducted by Gball Editor Laura Smith.


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