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Skanes used criticism as fuel
Jacob Unruh
junruh@oklahoman.com
Ce’Nara Skanes sat across from Putnam West’s coaching staff a year ago and received perhaps her harshest criticism yet.
One coach started. Averaging a double-double each game wasn’t enough. In fact, she hadn’t improved much at all since her sophomore year. The others agreed.
Skanes was at first dumbfounded.
Perhaps it was pure motivation to just continue growing. Either way, it worked.
Skanes improved and led Putnam West to the Class 6A girls state championship basketball game for the first time in 14 years to become The Oklahoman’s Big All-City Player of the Year.
“That made me want to go even harder and better this year,” Skanes said.
Skanes was her usual dominant self, but this time she was under control. The senior who has signed with Florida International averaged 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds, dominating both sides of the floor.
And she felt like a better leader even with her numbers taking a dip.
“I felt like this year I had to step up and be more of a leader than I was,” Skanes said. “My improvement came from knowing when to do something and when not to in the game.”
Throughout her career, Skanes has been coachable, which is why the message last year didn’t upset her.
When coach Carlos Adamson was hired in 2015, he met with each player. Skanes immediately informed her that she was a post player, intent on dominating the paint.
They had to have a real talk. Skanes was tall, but she was never going to play inside at the next level. She needed to be able to shoot and handle the ball.
Her sophomore year, she struggled but ultimately grew from the change.
“I threw her in the water and told her she had to swim,” Adamson said. “She took it head on.”
The next two years she became one of the state’s top athletes.
Last year, she had a breakout season that led to the state tournament. This season, she did what was necessary to get back.
“I think the whole aspect of being allowed to be coached,” Adamson said. “There’s a lot of kids that I’ve coached before that’s gotten scholarships and that sort of thing early on and they allowed themselves to get complacent, get lazy. Ce’Nara, anytime I challenged her she always responded.”
Skanes would not say which coach challenged her following last season.
But she was thankful that happened. She learned from it and her team benefited.
“It’s a major improvement for me,” Skanes said. “Just to make it to the state championship is a big step, so it’s a good improvement.”
Jacob Unruh
junruh@oklahoman.com
Ce’Nara Skanes sat across from Putnam West’s coaching staff a year ago and received perhaps her harshest criticism yet.
One coach started. Averaging a double-double each game wasn’t enough. In fact, she hadn’t improved much at all since her sophomore year. The others agreed.
Skanes was at first dumbfounded.
Perhaps it was pure motivation to just continue growing. Either way, it worked.
Skanes improved and led Putnam West to the Class 6A girls state championship basketball game for the first time in 14 years to become The Oklahoman’s Big All-City Player of the Year.
“That made me want to go even harder and better this year,” Skanes said.
Skanes was her usual dominant self, but this time she was under control. The senior who has signed with Florida International averaged 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds, dominating both sides of the floor.
And she felt like a better leader even with her numbers taking a dip.
“I felt like this year I had to step up and be more of a leader than I was,” Skanes said. “My improvement came from knowing when to do something and when not to in the game.”
Throughout her career, Skanes has been coachable, which is why the message last year didn’t upset her.
When coach Carlos Adamson was hired in 2015, he met with each player. Skanes immediately informed her that she was a post player, intent on dominating the paint.
They had to have a real talk. Skanes was tall, but she was never going to play inside at the next level. She needed to be able to shoot and handle the ball.
Her sophomore year, she struggled but ultimately grew from the change.
“I threw her in the water and told her she had to swim,” Adamson said. “She took it head on.”
The next two years she became one of the state’s top athletes.
Last year, she had a breakout season that led to the state tournament. This season, she did what was necessary to get back.
“I think the whole aspect of being allowed to be coached,” Adamson said. “There’s a lot of kids that I’ve coached before that’s gotten scholarships and that sort of thing early on and they allowed themselves to get complacent, get lazy. Ce’Nara, anytime I challenged her she always responded.”
Skanes would not say which coach challenged her following last season.
But she was thankful that happened. She learned from it and her team benefited.
“It’s a major improvement for me,” Skanes said. “Just to make it to the state championship is a big step, so it’s a good improvement.”