Wake Forest Athletics
Passion to play
2/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2001
By Jay Reddick
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - For Tiffani Listenbee, the biggest thrill of the 2000-01 season so far has been joining the starting lineup on Jan. 11. But it wasn't because she felt it was a destination, the culmination of some long quest for respect, Listenbee just saw it as an opportunity.
"I never felt like I arrived or anything like that when I started at Clemson," the sophomore forward/center said. "I was really nervous and excited for it. It was a chance to start the game with more energy and intensity. I wanted to see if me starting would help the team."
Whether as a starter, which she has been for most of the ACC season, or off the bench, Listenbee provides exuberance and athleticism that help the team go. Though undersized at 6-foot-1, most of her starts have come at the center position, and she has provided defense, stellar rebounding and some needed shooting accuracy at the spot.
Heading into the regular-season finale at Georgia Tech, Listenbee was second on the team in field-goal percentage (behind Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick), second in rebounds per minute (behind Olivia Dardy) and second in blocks per minute (behind Eafton Hill). Her overall numbers aren't too shabby either, at 3.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.4 blocks in 13 minutes a game.
Her game has risen to a new level in ACC play, especially on the boards. One highlight was a nine-point, 12-rebound performance in a close loss to No. 4 Duke on Feb. 1.
"Rebounding is the best part of my game right now," Listenbee said. "I love rebounding. There's no secret to it for me, you've just got to want the ball."
There's a lot to love about the game of basketball for Listenbee, who grew up in Clinton Township, Mich., just outside Detroit. She started playing in eighth grade just to be close to her older sister, Brandi.
"I just said to myself, 'That looks fun,' and I started," Listenbee said. "Soon, Brandi stopped playing, but I kept on."
For a couple of years, basketball was a stress reliever for Listenbee, as well as a way to exercise. Around 11th grade, though, she started getting letters from colleges and knew that basketball might be more than just an escape.
"It never really dawned on me," Listenbee said. "I never paid attention to how good I was. I was just having fun with friends."
The recruiting process brought mixed emotions for Listenbee, who was excited by the attention but scared of making the wrong college choice. Then Charlene Curtis showed up at one of her games.
"She was actually there to see a teammate of mine," Listenbee said. "But she must have liked what she saw in me because she called me that night. Two weeks later, I made my official visit, and in the airport waiting to go home from here, I made up my mind and I committed.
"I had always wanted to go to school in the South, and I just loved the atmosphere, the team and the coaches."
Listenbee has had nearly two years to learn to play at the college level and in the Deacons' system, but she admits she's not fully immersed yet.
"For me, it's always a learning process," Listenbee said. "I don't know the game as well as I should. Everybody on the team, from seniors to freshmen, feeds off each other, not just learning from our mistakes but from our accomplishments."
One thing Listenbee has learned is that there's never a second of down time in the ACC.
"We have to play with high energy for 40 minutes," she said. "We need to set the tone instead of playing off what the other team does. We've learned that the hard way some this season, and it seems like we're just now learning to win and learning to finish games."
Listenbee said that besides her first start, the only other time she's been nervous before a Wake Forest basketball game was at last year's ACC Tournament.
"I just wasn't ready for the year to end," she said.
The feeling is the same as this year's tournament approaches on March 2, but it's a different kind of excitement.
"If we get our intensity up, we can surprise some people," Listenbee said.
Playing the tournament just up the road in Greensboro helps.
"Some of our fans have said they'll be able to come to the tournament since it's so close," Listenbee said. "Fan support helps me out a lot, and I think it helps the team as well. We feed off their energy as much as our own."
