Feature Friday: Honesty Scott-Grayson taking on leadership role

It’s gone awfully fast, she said.

Five years as a collegiate student-athlete. Four of them at Auburn.

And heading into her senior season with the Tigers, Honesty Scott-Grayson can’t believe it’s been that long.

“Five years?” she said. “I honestly lost track. But it felt like it came so fast.”

And now as one of two seniors for the 2022-23 Auburn women’s basketball team, Scott-Grayson knows it’s on her to be the leader in the locker room.

“We have a lot of freshmen,” she said. “Not that many upperclassmen. So I feel like I have to step up in terms of leading on the court and off the court.”

Her leadership has already been on display during the preseason as she was selected as the Tigers’ representative to the SEC Women’s Basketball Leadership Council last month. She hopes to bring some of those qualities to her team as they begin practice for the season, just a little over a month away.

“My focus is just to be that leader the team needs me to be, being the oldest on the team,” Scott-Grayson said. “I feel like I have to hold myself accountable, but hold them accountable as well. And also be more vocal. I feel like that’s what I need to work on.”

The team’s second-leading scorer (13.0 ppg) and rebounder (5.7 rpg) as a redshirt junior, she knows that all eyes will be on her as a dual threat for 2022-23. And heading into her senior season, she’s identified several areas where she wants to see the most improvement.

“I’m being more vocal,” she said. “It was really tough for me. I never really talked on the floor. So that was a challenge that the coaches really helped me with. Just forcing me – whether it’s forcing me to talk on the floor or having to run because I’m not talking, I feel like that’s been the biggest improvement.

“This coaching staff has really pushed me beyond my limit. Just when I thought that I can’t, I couldn’t do something, they will push me beyond measure to get better at it. And they’ve really helped me improve my defense, too.”

Professional basketball is at the forefront of Scott-Grayson’s plans once her collegiate career ends. She’s also interested in a career in music business and production. She is on track to graduate in December with a degree in psychology. 

But first, some unfinished business with the Tigers.

She wants to see her team build off the success they experienced in 2021-22, when they doubled their win total from the previous season and knocked off three nationally-ranked opponents. The Tigers’ 71-61 win over No. 4 Tennessee was one particular game the team could look back and see the fruits of their labor, she said. 

“I felt like we were really coming together towards the end (of the Tennessee game),” Scott-Grayson said. “Just so many emotions, like Annie (Hughes) knocking down the big 3, the defensive stops, AC (Aicha Coulibaly) going to the hole, Sania (Wells) knocking down shots. Just the fact that we were able to come together and accomplish something so big like that, it was a really, really good feeling to have.

“And Georgia Tech was another game I felt like the energy was there with everybody – coaches, staff, players. We really came together and played as a team because we knew we had a job, and we knew we had to get it done. After the game, everybody celebrating with our families in the stands was a good feeling.”

Drawing on the memories from those wins and other lessons she’s learned over her four-plus years as a Division I student-athlete, Scott-Grayson believes she’s in a position to help lead the Tigers to success in 2022-23.

“One big lesson I can pass onto the freshmen is to watch more film,” she said. “I feel like that really helped me. Anybody can watch film and see what they did right, but maybe not what they did wrong. So whether it was with coach Starkey, or coach Ketara (Chapel), or Coach J, they’ve always told us that film was important so we could correct our mistakes.

“Another one is that during practice, you always have to push yourself because we have long hours of practice. But if we work hard in practice, it will show in the games and lead to more wins.”