Former Lady Patriot set to play in Olympics
Bob Jones High School is about to set another milestone in athletics.
Former Lady Patriot basketball player, Jenaya Wade-Fray will play for Great Britain women’s basketball team in the upcoming London Olympics. Opening Ceremonies are set for Friday July 27.
Former BJHS player Jenaya Wade-Fray
She will be in action on the first day of competition, Saturday July 28 as Great Britain takes on Australia in a quest for the gold medal.
There are 12 teams in the women’s basketball competition including China and the reigning gold medalist team USA. All games will be played at the new basketball arena in Olympic Park in Stratford, London.
Wade-Fray was born in St. Davids, Bermuda and came to Madison with her mother Jennifer Fray who went to college in the US and still lives inMadison.
The Bermuda Isles became a British Colony in 1707 and are Britain’s oldest remaining overseas territory.
Wade-Fray, 23, played for Great Britain in 2011 and was a big part of the team’s success as Great Britain qualified for the EuroBasket Women 2011 finals.
She has also played professional basketball in England for the UWIC Archers, a member of the English Basketball League
Wade-Fray is a 2006 graduate of Bob Jones where she was team captain and is still the school’s all time leading scorer in women’s basketball with 1,295 points. She played for former coach Scott St. John and as a junior, led the Lady Patriots to the Class 6A Final Four in Birmingham.
Wade-Fray went to the University of Tennessee Chattanooga on a basketball scholarship where she played in every game (131) in her four years there. She made the Southern Conference All-Freshman team and then was a starter at point guard for the next three seasons.
She will become the first University of Tennessee at Chattanooga scholarship athlete to participate in the Olympics.
In her time at Chattanooga, the Lady Mocs claimed four straight Southern Conference titles and three Southern Conference tournament crowns. UTC advanced to the postseason all four years and made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Chattanooga posted an overall record of 100-31 and 66-10 in league action including a perfect 18-0 performance her sophomore year.
She finished her career 12th on the Lady Mocs’ all-time scoring list with 1,351 points. She scored a personal season-best her senior campaign with 427 points. She is third on UTC’s all-time 3-pointers made list with 214 and is 10th on the career charts for assists with 280.
Academically, she was on the UTC Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, UTC Deans list, and the Southern Conference All-Academic Team. She graduated with a degree in Psychology and is working on her graduate degree at UTC.
“She had good quickness, could go by you and was a good 3-point shooter as well and that made her hard to guard,” said UTC Head basketball coach Wes Moore. “Defensively she could make plays so she was a versatile player. She did a great job for us.
“She has been involved with the Great Britain team for several years. She would play with them in the summer,” said Moore who added that he last saw Fray in Chattanooga during the past school year working and going to graduate school.
“It is quite an accomplishment. It will be a great experience for her with the opening ceremonies and living in the Olympic Village. I’m really excited for her. She has always loved the game and worked hard at it so it is neat to see someone like that get rewarded,”Moore added.
Moore has been the head coach at UTC for 14 seasons. He visited Bob Jones several times to watch Wade Fray play.
