Graduate student Taya Robinson reaches 1,500 career points near the end of her collegiate career
Graduate student guard Taya Robinson goes for a layup against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 16. Photo by Kaitlyn Fulmore
Arrick Wilson, Sports Editor
Women’s basketball graduate guard Taya Robinson reached the accomplishment of earning over 1,500 points in her career, the team announced on its Instagram earlier this month.
Robinson is the seventh VCU player to reach 1,500 career points since the program began in 1974, according to VCU Athletics. Robinson said she has enjoyed her long career at VCU, expressing her devotion for the program.
“It’s been fun. I think my game has elevated every season. It’s just been fun,” Robinson said. “Love the people I’ve been around; coaches, players. It’s been a fun career, that’s why I came back for another year.”
Robinson chose to attend VCU in her hometown of Richmond after an illustrious career at Huguenot High School. During her high school career, Robinson was named Virginia High School League All-State honors, along with earning a position in the All-Region squad in 2016, according to VCU Athletics. Robinson was also rated three-stars out of five by ESPN as a recruit in 2017.
Women’s basketball head coach Beth O’Boyle recruited Robinson to wear the black and gold in 2017. O’Boyle said she believes since her recruitment, Robinson’s career has panned out like imagined.
“I think, looking at going all the way back to recruiting Taya, you’re trying to get the best player in Richmond to want to wear the black and gold,” O’Boyle said. “From the moment that she said she wanted to be a Ram, this is probably how we pictured her career to go.”
Director of VCU Athletics Communications for women’s basketball Evan Nicely stated some of Robinson’s accomplishments in an email.
“She has 1,513 points as of now and is 579 points away from the career leader, Courtney Hurt,” Nicely stated. “She is the 7th VCU Women’s Basketball player to reach this mark.”
The process of collecting stats is started through the home team’s official scorer and then matched with statistical sports software, Genius Sports, according to Nicely. These stats are then reported to the NCAA database.
Since then, Robinson has moved up to 1,544 career points, which is 17 points away from sixth place on the all-time women’s scoring list.
Robinson is continuing her distinguished career at VCU after being named Atlantic-10 First Team, A-10 Defensive Team and A-10 Championship Most Outstanding Player last season. O’Boyle said she sees Robinson as an example for other teammates playing for the black and gold through working out, eating right and sleeping well.
“[I] just have a ton of confidence in her because of all the preparation and hard work she puts into her game,” O’Boyle said.
The Rams were champions in last year’s A-10 conference tournament, for the first time in school history, according to VCU Athletics. The Rams won the championship after losing both previous A-10 championships. Even though Robinson has achieved this accomplishment in career points, Robinson said that her primary objective is to make it back to another A-10 conference championship.
“You know, it feels good. Not better than going back to the A-10 tournament, but that’s my goal. I don’t really care too much about the points, just, you know, us getting the job done. It’s a nice accomplishment,” Robinson said.
Like Robinson, O’Boyle said that she is looking forward to more games with Robinson as her career begins to end.
“It’s been great to be on that bench and watch her play and then also just be along the journey with her. It’s been an incredible career — a couple more games to go,” O’Boyle said.
