Xavier Nation Magazine Feature: Creating Her Own Legacy

Xavier Nation Magazine debuted in November 2014 as a publication produced by Xavier Athletics, designed specifically for its passionate and supportive fans. Xavier Nation aims to bring the alumni, fans and friends of Xavier content that can't be found anywhere else. The magazine goes beyond the statistics and history of a traditional media guide with stories that bring to life the coaches and athletes who represent Xavier.

Read one of the features from the magazine about forward Bri Glover taking a different path than her parents.

Coaches love to invoke "family" when describing their teams.

Few players have taken the concept to heart as much as Xavier women's basketball senior Briana Glover, who will finish her college career in her hometown. The Mason High School grad is the daughter of former University of Cincinnati basketball star Cedric Glover (named No. 47 among the Bearcats' top 50 all-time players by The Enquirer in 2011), and Tara Glover, a member of the UC dance team in college.

"I was recruited by UC, but I was like, 'I'm going to do something different than my parents,' " says Glover, who led Xavier in scoring last season (10.8 ppg).

That decision delighted her parents.

"She went about the whole [college choice] very logically," Tara says. "She created what we call the bubble. It was a circle, and she said, 'I'm not going to go more than two hours away.' "

That initial bubble grew to three hours, then five when the family visited Michigan State and returned the same day. Tara says Briana decided to burst the bubble after that trip.

"At the end of the day, she didn't want to miss her siblings growing up," Tara says.

Ah, the family. Briana is the oldest of five kids: brothers Garrison (16) and Jared (12), and sisters Payton (10) and Rylee (7).

Glover says lessons learned at home translate to the court.

"Being the older sister, I have some parenting skills," she told The Enquirer last year. "I like to help the younger people along, help them get comfortable in the system. If they're lost, they can come to me. I'm an outlet for them."

Her parents instilled those lessons early. Glover started playing basketball in second grade with her dad as a coach.

"It all comes down to hard work," Cedric says. "I've stressed that to Bri all the time. If you put the work in, everything else will take care of itself."

Glover, who is one of three seniors on this team with Aliyah Zantt and Jenna Crittendon (who, coincidentally, also has four siblings), is excited to get to work. The veteran squad lost only Maleeka Kynard after an 18–15 season and a berth in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI).

"Last year was fantastic," Glover says of the strong finish when Xavier beat Georgetown in the BIG EAST tournament and William & Mary in the WBI. "I feel like we had all the energy in the world and we were still going.

"I think the two incoming freshmen [redshirt Imani Partlow and Tierra Floyd] are really going to help us. People know what everyone's role needs to be and what is going to help us succeed."

The challenge for third-year coach Brian Neal will be to find the right combinations among the talented and experienced players. The Musketeers showed a glimpse of the possibilities when they came back from an eight-point halftime deficit to beat St. John's 74–61 in the regular-season finale. The Red Storm finished 23–11 and made the quarterfinals of the Women's NIT.

Neal called Glover the anchor of last season's team, praising her consistency and the improvement of her inside play and shooting percentage.

"That's awesome for him to say that; of course, coaches won't say that to your face," she says, laughing.

"Before last season, my goal was to be more consistent. In my first two seasons, I wasn't that consistent, but my teammates helped me a lot [last year]."

Glover's current coach wasn't the only one who noticed improvement. So did her first coach.

"As I've gotten older, I have changed the way I look at her game," Cedric says. "I'm not as critical as I was early on. That's me maturing and understanding what it takes to play on that level.

"You begin to understand the difficulty to play at the highest level of Division I college basketball. Bri has a very calm personality. If you approach her in an encouraging [way], you get more out of her."

GLOVER BY THE NUMBERS

YEAR	PPG	FG%	FT%	RPG
2014-15	10.8	52.2	72.3	3.8
2013-14	8.6	40.3	74.7	3.6
2012-13	5.0	35.8	72.4	2.0

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