Senior forward Jennifer Hailey recently sat down with the Charlotte 49ers athletic media relations office and talked about her summer and the upcoming season. Last season, Hailey earned second-team All-Atlantic 10 honors as well as being named to the A-10 All-Defensive team. She set a school single-season record with an Atlantic 10 leading 73 blocked shots. She enters her senior season needing only 44 points to reach 1,000 career points.

What are you doing this summer? I am going to summer school and working out.

What classes are you taking this summer? I am taking a Psychology class.

What is your major? Africana Studies

You're closing in on 1,000 career points, what would that mean to you? That would mean a lot to me and to this program.  This would be the second time in my basketball career that I have scored 1,000 career points.  I also scored over 1,000 points in high school.  It would mean a lot to me.

This past season, you were really close to averaging a double-double (averaged 13.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game).  Is that a goal for you to average a double-double this upcoming year? It's a real big goal. I am hoping to record a double-double in every game this season.

Now that you are a senior, you will have to step up into a leadership role; do you think you are ready for that? Yeah, I have been working on being more vocal this year. The coaching staff has really helped me work in my leadership skills. I am trying to step it up this year.

Pretty much the whole team here this summer, how is bonding experience with the team going? It is going good. We are getting really close this summer.

What are the team's expectations for the year? I think this is going to be one of the best years we have had. Everyone is buying into trying to get further than we did last year.Our goal is to win the Atlantic 10 Championship and go to the NCAA Tournament. 

Do you have any plans for the rest of the summer? Not really, just basketball and school.

You grew up and played high school pretty close to here.  How is playing college basketball close to your home? It's actually pretty good. I get to have most of my family come see me play.  I choose a pretty good place to play college basketball.

Who has been the biggest influence in your life? My dad Grady Hailey. We talk almost every day.  He has been the biggest influence in my life.

Now that you're a senior, what are your aspirations or plans beyond this year? After this I am out in the real world.  I have to go hard this year to get to where I want to go. I want to play pro basketball.