Charlotte women’s basketball senior Jacee Busick has career night in blowout victory

Jacee Busick has been an important player for the Charlotte women’s basketball team throughout her four years in the Queen City.

She started as a freshman after a standout high school career earned her a nomination to the McDonald’s All-American game, and reached the 2,000-minute mark for her career last season. Busick has now made 34 consecutive starts for the 49ers.

But what’s jumped out most to head coach Cara Consuegra is Busick’s increased confidence as a senior. Every player has ups and downs throughout their careers, but in the past, Consuegra felt Busick may have let her mistakes bother her too much.

Now, she notices Busick, who finished with 14 points on a perfect shooting performance in Charlotte’s 93-43 thrashing of Gardner-Webb on Friday night, always moving forward and thinking about the next play.

“She would do that in the past, but she allowed some circumstances around her to affect her,” Consuerga said after Friday’s game. “Now, she’s sure of herself. She knows who she is. She’s older, and she’s playing really well.”

In just 13 minutes Friday, Busick, a 6-foot-1 guard from Kernersville, shot 4-of-4 from behind the arc and 5-of-5 from the field. The 49ers (3-1) totaled 13 3-pointers — two shy of the program record — in a dominant win they controlled from the opening tip.

Charlotte’s offense produced its highest-scoring first quarter in school history — 35 points — in building 25-point lead while connecting on eight of its first 10 3-pointers.

“This is a big confidence booster,” sophomore guard Olivia Porter, who finished with 12 points, said. “If you don’t make shots that you know you can make, it can get you down as a player. But having a game like this, you know that you can make the next shot.”

Early in the second quarter, Busick caught a pass while on the wing and hoisted a contested 3-pointer. As her long-range jumper sank through the rim, Busick was holding her form and then pumped her arms in the air as she ran up court.

That was her fourth 3-pointer of the game — during the 12th minute of action — and set a career-high for the senior, who’d only recorded a trio of them in a game before and done so three times.

“Jaycee is one of our leaders,” Consuegra said. “She was voted by our team to be a part of our leadership group. A lot of people are going to be looking at her. When she’s playing with confidence, our team is going to play with confidence.”