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2014-15 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Media Day

Media Day: Oct. 22 at noon PT
Live on Pac-12 Networks

Karate helps Washington's Jazmine Davis to stellar hoops career

Oct 22, 2014
Dhon Santos/Pac-12.com

SAN FRANCISCO – By season’s end, Washington guard Jazmine Davis could have a couple of big accomplishments listed next to her name, including Washington’s all-time leading scorer and Washington’s first four-time all-conference player.

Here’s something already on that résumé: a black belt in karate.

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Davis began taking karate at four or five years old and got her black belt about 10 years later. There would be some days where she’d have karate and high school basketball practice on the same day.

“[Karate] definitely plays into basketball because it’s a lot of self-discipline and it works on your mental and physical aspects of the game [of basketball],” Davis said Wednesday at 2014-15 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Media Day. “You don’t really focus on being scared of getting hit.”

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That physical and mental toughness has helped Davis, who came to UW because it was the only Pac-12 school that recruited her, flourish over the course of her career. Now a senior, Davis is 275 points shy of tying Jamie Redd’s school record of 2,027 career points. Seeing that Davis has scored at least 500 points in each season, that record seems to be a lock if she stays healthy.

Aside from her scoring prowess, Davis has also stepped up in the leadership department. Often times, Davis will be the first one over to a player who just made a mistake in practice to make sure she is on the same page with the rest of the team.

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“Jaz is policing our team better than anybody I’ve ever been around,” Washington coach Mike Neighbors said. “I think that could be the difference between us going deep in the NIT and making the NCAA tournament.”