Story by Gage Johnson
Sports Editor
Sophomore guard Janika Griffith-Wallace has helped catapult the Racers to the No. 6 seed in the OVC Tournament, but before coming to Murray State she had to find her way from Canada to the United States.
Griffith-Wallace is from Brampton, Ontario, and she started her athletic career taking on soccer at the age of eight. She played soccer until the age of 12, but it wasn’t until Griffith-Wallace recovered from an injury that she sustained playing on a smaller basketball goal that she really jumped into the world of hoops.
In grade six she was spotted playing pickup with some boys by a coach, who then recruited her to play for Toronto Triple Threat, which marked the beginning of Griffith-Wallace’s basketball career.
She played for multiple organizations before joining the Brampton Warriors. Playing her first year of AAU basketball in grade nine, it was there that Griffith-Wallace found out she had a bright future in basketball.
“I hadn’t really taken basketball serious,” Griffith-Wallace said. “I didn’t know I’d end up in the States. After my first tournament, I ending up coming back home and receiving a lot of letters.”
From there Griffith-Wallace continued to play AAU basketball in the United States, before playing for Tech Academy in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She led the team with 18.0 ppg, which led to Head Coach Rechelle Turner finding her through the internet.
“We actually first saw her on YouTube,” Turner said. “Janika’s athleticism and ability to score the basketball caught our attention quickly. Janika possessed basketball qualities that you can’t teach. I had a contact that coached her in AAU, so I contacted him and began recruiting her. We began talking with her and then brought her on a visit.”
Shortly after, Griffith-Wallace made her commitment to Murray State basketball. The next thing that had to be taken care of was her visa. It took a few tries to receive her F1 visa after some confusion, but eventually assistant coach Amber Guffey and Griffith-Wallace were able to get the visa.
“Honestly, it was pretty hard in the beginning,” Griffith-Wallace said. “I ended up losing like $300 because I went to the wrong website. Coach Guffey had helped me find the correct website and went through it with me.”
Leaving behind six siblings, 10 nieces and nephews and other family in Canada, it’s hard for them to come watch her play. Despite being away from home, Griffith-Wallace has been able to keep in contact every day.
“I’m really family oriented,” Griffith-Wallace said. “We talk like almost every day. FaceTime is really good. I talked to them before the Austin Peay game because they were all at my mom’s house, which was good because I haven’t seen them in a really long time.”
Thrust into the starting lineup her freshman year after coming to America, there was a large learning curve as she adjusted to the pace of play at the Division I level while gaining experience from upperclassmen.
Going into her sophomore season, Griffith-Wallace was one of two players on last season’s roster with experience in the OVC Tournament. With that in mind, Turner challenged her to step up as a crucial aspect to the team offensively, as well as a leader.
“She’s answered the challenge,” Turner said. “I sat her on the bench for a few games and said, ‘Hey, we need you, but we need you to be the player you can be.’ I believe the main reason for her improvement has been her willingness to be coached. Her work ethic and attitude has improved tremendously this year.”
Her efforts in practice have translated to the bright lights, as she has scored in double figures in nine of the last 10 games, seven of which were Racer victories. With the consistent support from Turner and meetings with assistant coaches Jauwan Scaife and Guffey, Griffith-Wallace’s play elevated.
“Coach Turner was on me, letting me know like, ‘Janika you’re one of the oldest on the team, you need to be a leader and these are things you need to do to help us win,’” Griffith-Wallace said. “We had that conversation and I had spoke to Jauwan and Coach Guffey; since then a switch has literally been flipped.”
It only took her traveling 804 miles away from home and a season and a half of college basketball, but as Turner mentioned in a recent press conference, “Janika has arrived.”
“It’s the six inches between her ears,” Turner said. “She’s just playing with a high rate of confidence right now; kind of playing with a little swag that we need her to play with. She is the one player on our team that if we need a bucket, she can go get one. Right now, if the game is on the line, she’s the one I want with the ball in her hands.”
