When attending a Central women’s basketball game, there are no guarantees about what will happen. However, over the past four years, Jasmine Parker swatting a shot has been just as close to a guarantee as there can be.

The senior forward from Spokane broke Central’s career blocked shots record last season and has been adding to that total ever since. This year she leads the GNAC with 2.5 blocks per game and has 199 blocks in her career.

Parker attributes blocking shots to having good timing.

“Just knowing how to time [your jump], not jumping to early, jumping when they jump, always contesting with your hands,” Parker said. “Sometimes I’m not even trying to block a shot, but if my hands are high I might get a good tip on it.”

Parker has been playing organized basketball since seventh grade—she made the junior varsity team that year.

“I was terrible,” Parker said.

Improvement came quickly, though; Parker made the varsity team at Mead High School as a freshman. After her senior season, she was recruited by Central and decided to commit.

“I came here, and I liked the environment,” Parker said. “I liked the city, it’s a small town, and the team was really welcoming.”

Coming to college was a little intimidating for Parker.

“Definitely when I first came here I was a little scared,” Parker said. “I’m like ‘I’m a freshman, I’m a little baby.’ I thought for sure I was gonna redshirt. I was really nervous, but I ended up starting.”

From there, Parker has gone on to start all but two games in her college career.

Last season she earned honorable mention All-GNAC. This season she was selected to the preseason All-GNAC Team.

Even though she has accomplished so much in her career so far, head coach Jeff Harada believes Parker is just tapping into her potential.

“I think she’s yet to make her full potential and my goal with her in my two years with her is to get her to reach that full potential,” Harada said.  “I’ve been pushing her to really get her out of her comfort-zone and really be that aggressive type go-to player who really wants that ball down the stretch.”

He also wanted Parker to become more vocal as a leader on the floor.

Parker has taken that to heart and has worked on it this season.

“Even just like in practice I try and talk more and be more vocal. That helps with the communicating aspect,” Parker said. “In high school, I was quiet. I didn’t say anything. Now I just scream things at people.”

Harada said that her growth as a leader was evident in the team’s big win against Western Washington University (WWU).

“Her energy in the huddle, the things she’s brought to the team, the things she said on and off the floor, on the bench and in the huddle really willed her team to win that game,” Harada said. “She wasn’t gonna let her team lose that game.”

For Parker, basketball isn’t just game, it’s also about the relationships she’s built in her four years as a Wildcat.

“I just love my team. Those are my best friends,” Parker said. “I just love the environment I’m in.”

One of those close friends is senior center India Matheson.

Parker and Matheson are two of the only three remaining players from their freshmen class. She described Parker as goofy, loyal and sweet.

“We have been through this whole thing together since the beginning,” Matheson said. “Not everybody that we were recruited with stayed.”

Matheson said the WWU game as a favorite memory with Parker.

“We have been through the whole thing together and have lost every single time we played Western except for this last time,” Matheson said. “In the locker room [after the game] we just kind of stare at each other and we just both break down crying because it was so emotional.”

Parker draws her motivation from her grandma, mother, girlfriend and coaches. She credits them for pushing her hard this year in basketball and school.

Parker, a public health major, said she doesn’t have much time outside of school and basketball. In the free time she does get, Parker enjoys photography.  She likes to go on hikes and go around Seattle finding different scenery to shoot.

After college, she would like to pursue a career in basketball.