All her life, Virginia's leading scorer, Schuye LaRue, has been dealing with misinterpretations and mispronunciations of her name.
"My nickname is 'Shoe' because that's how they pronounce my first name," the sophomore forward said. "And they call me 'Frenchy' because my last name sounds [continental]."
Yet the Washington, D.C., native whose name is pronounced "Sky" quickly made a name for herself in the ACC as she led the Cavaliers in scoring (14.4), rebounding (8.0) and field goal percentage (.570) last season as a freshman.
Last year's ACC rookie-of-the-year is now touted as a candidate for ACC player-of-the-year, as she averages 18.4 points per game and scored her 1,000th career point last week against Hampton.
Only the 18th Cavalier to top the 1,000-point plateau, LaRue's feat is even more impressive since she is only in her second season at Virginia.
"I've always scored a lot of points, in both junior high and high school," LaRue said. "I just take [that responsibility] on for the team and when [my teammates] come to me, I take that as a challenge."
When LaRue and the Cavaliers travel to take on the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium tonight, it will be a battle between last year's ACC rookie-of-the-year and this year's top candidate for the same award, Alana Beard.
For LaRue, it will be a matchup long-awaited, since Beard missed their Jan. 22 meeting after dislocating her thumb. Then fourth-ranked Duke won the competition, 71-68, on a strong performance from freshman Iciss Tillis. Like all of Virginia's games, though, LaRue had a hand in the Cavaliers' destiny, as she tried to tie the game with a last-second midcourt shot that went awry.
The 6-3 forward grew up playing in the nation's capital, but didn't start competing in organized basketball until she joined the AAU Beltway Lady Cougars.
An athletic forward who often leaps over the competition instead of running through it, LaRue stood head-and-shoulders above the rest as she led the Lady Cougars to three top-10 finishes and was named a National AAU All-American.
"All I did when I was little was play ball, that's all I can remember," LaRue said. "When I couldn't get by [my opponents], that was what I worked on the next day and I couldn't wait to get out there and work on that."
The former Nike All-American, who wears jersey No. 45 because it was Michael Jordan's, not only made the transition from high school to college, but dominated last season's ACC pledge class.
LaRue played in every game last season, starting all but three, and led all ACC freshmen in scoring and rebounding,
"Playing in the ACC is challenging," LaRue said. "The other teams challenge me because their defense is always trying to keep me from scoring."
So far, the other teams have been unsuccessful, failing to hold LaRue's per-game average to less than 20.1 points. Only to North Carolina's LaQuanda Barksdale tops the sophomore on the ACC high scorers' list and recently recorded her 18th double-double of the season with her 33-point, 18-rebound performance against Hampton.
But all is not rosy for the All-America candidate; her scoring may be dominant, but the sophomore has watched her team drop to fifth in the ACC after being in the hunt for the conference title last season.
"My biggest challenge is to win games on a consistent basis," LaRue said. "With the talent we have on our team, we can do it. We have to work on winning every night, instead of beating a big team and then losing to a not-so-good team."
It's ironic that LaRue's favorite movie is Sinbad's 1995 film Houseguest, since, like the title character, the forward often comes into other teams' homes and does not leave until she has what she wants. For other ACC teams, the question then is not whether LaRue will score, but how much-and for that reason alone, they know her name.
"Every time I play I change my game," LaRue said. "The new defenses I face make me do different things so that when I fail and when I succeed, I still always try to get better."
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