From Kitten to Tiger: Quianna Chaney leaves Southern Lab after three state titles to join Grambling State’s staff
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Quianna Chaney was nearing the end of her professional basketball career overseas when Southern Lab High found itself in the market for both a principal and girls’ basketball coach.
Chaney considered a return to her alma mater in Baton Rouge a natural transition from the playing floor to the sideline, where her former coach, Henry Combs, had retired earlier than expected.
Realizing the school’s priority was to select a new leader for the school, Chaney remained patient but was realistic about her opportunity to land an interview for the vacant basketball position.
“I didn’t think I’d get an interview,” she said.
The school’s new principal, Herman Brister Jr., made the call to Chaney, a former All-State selection at the school before starring at LSU and playing professionally, for an interview four days before the start of school.
Brister called back on the eve of the new school year to inform Chaney she was the school’s choice as basketball coach.
It would be her first opportunity to serve as head coach, a leap of faith Chaney displayed was the correct choice, and one that’s led to the next phase of her coaching career – a move to the college ranks.
The 39-year-old Chaney was hired Monday to join the coaching staff of head coach Courtney Simmons, a former teammate at Southern Lab, at Grambling State, where she begins July 7.
“I’m going with my gut on this,” said Chaney, who will complete her duties with Southern Lab’s summer league play. “I’ve had a lot of (job) offers in the middle of the season, and I’ve never been the kind of person to just stop what I’m doing to drop and go. This year, the season was over with. I felt comfortable and had my time to do my research.
“In the past, I didn’t have the time to do my research or make calls to see if the place would be a good fit for me,” Chaney said. “It wasn’t the first time Coach Simmons offered me. It was already on my brain. She had a better chance than other people because we had already had the pre-prep talk. I prayed to God about the situation, and it just seemed like the right time.”
Southern Lab won 75% (102-35) of its games under Chaney and over the past four years won three Division IV select state championships and were state runner-up.
The Lady Kittens (21-5) won their second straight state crown this past season with a 67-57 victory over Cedar Creek.
“It’s bittersweet after a championship team, and we only lost one senior,” Chaney said. “There’s no doubt in my mind we were going to win it again. I tell my kids all the time about opportunities. Sometimes they don’t come back around, and sometimes they do. You have to listen to what you preach, and the opportunity comes back around. I prayed about it, and it just seemed like the right time.
“The kids were sad, they were down,” Chaney said of what would have been her 2025-26 team. “A lot of people and parents knew this opportunity would come, we just didn’t know when. Everybody was happy for me. I think the kids would be more hurt if I had gone to another high school, but I’m going to the next level.”
Chaney’s acquainted with next-level opportunities, a chance she was afforded following her career at LSU, where the Lady Tigers reached the Final Four all four years of her career.
The 5-foot-11 shooting guard was the 21st overall selection of the Chicago Sky in the 2008 WNBA Draft, and after one season, she embarked on a journey overseas that lasted 10 years.
Chaney played in Armenia, France, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and Turkey when her interest began to wane in the face of dwindling salaries.
Chaney also took heed of the mounting bureaucracy required for travel abroad, where her dual passport was no longer valid following a wave of bogus passports that had become prevalent.
“They couldn’t pinpoint where it started, and they said if you had a passport during this time, it’s null and void,” she said. “I thought that must be my sign, and announced my retirement.”
Southern Lab cultivated a plan with Chaney returning home to succeed Combs when he opted to retire.
Chaney was contacting players in the program, introducing herself and informing them of her background with the expectation that Combs would coach a little longer into the future.
Instead of an additional two years overseas, Chaney found out Combs decided to step away from the bench earlier than expected, speeding up her introduction into coaching.
“I knew I wouldn’t play for the long haul overseas,” she said. “No one bounces the ball forever.”
Combs’ retirement prompted Chaney to submit her glittering resume that contained her three state titles at Southern Lab, a pair of Class 1A Most Valuable Player awards, and the state’s Miss Basketball award in 2004. She was also a third-team Parade All-American and Women’s Basketball Coaches Association honorable mention All-America choice.
At LSU, Chaney was a deadly outside shooter with unlimited range and wound up with 1,345 points (21st in program history). She had a career-best 14.4 scoring average as a senior with a 42.4 field goal percentage and 38.3 percentage from 3-point range.
Chaney finished her career second in 3-pointers made (205) and attempted (591). She’s also second in single-season 3-pointers made (93) during the 2007-08 season, and her six 3-pointers in a game against top-ranked UConn still ranks eighth on the school’s single-game record.
Chaney was voted the All-SEC Freshman of the Year and was chosen to the league’s first team her senior season. She was also a two-time selection on the All-Louisiana and SEC’s All-Academic teams.
LSU won 82% (95-21) of its games during Chaney’s career, which included the second-most games played (142) and fourth-best total (18) of NCAA tournament games played.
“I really didn’t think I was going to get the job,” she said. “I thought they had to look for a principal first, and that should take top priority over a basketball coach. The next thing, I get a call from Mr. Brister for an interview.”
The departure of Combs and the late arrival of Chaney worked against Southern Lab in the beginning.
“The kids didn’t know who the coach was going to be and left,” Chaney said. “When they announced that it was me, it was too late for those kids to come back.”
Chaney had three girls who were solid basketball players and found two more to form her first team in the 2017-18 season. The five-member squad went 16-8 and reached the state semifinals, falling to Lafayette Christian Academy, 55-38.
With two of the three seniors going on to next-level opportunities, Chaney realized there was no feeder system sending her additional players, and the school decided not to field a varsity program for two years with the hopes of re-energizing with younger players to lay a foundation for the future.
“There were a lot of tears in the gym,” Chaney said. “I knew I had to get them into shape. The first year to go all the way to the semifinals was crazy, with five players. I was wondering if anybody still liked to play basketball. Nobody wanted to play for two years. It took that long to get the program up and running again.”
Chaney knew what a championship-level program looked like and the amount of hard work and dedication needed to ascend to such a level.
She lauded the support she received from the school’s administration, parents, and boosters; she met with a variety of groups she met with to lay out her vision for the program.
“If just took off from there,” she said. “I knew what it was like under coach Combs, and I couldn’t believe it to come back and see that. After I left (2004), they were still going to the dance (state tournament). They couldn’t cross that hump.
“I knew what it took to get there,” she said. “It wasn’t anything new for me. It wasn’t something I had to have a crash course on. I was an alum of the school and didn’t feel this is how the program should look. People were asking what’s going on. Why is there no program? What happened? There was definitely a sense of urgency.”
Chaney wasn’t patient about getting the results she desired. She was accustomed to winning and wanted to add to the gym’s four state championship banners.
“I was ready to win now,” she said. “I didn’t want to wait.”
Southern Lab’s return to varsity competition was a successful one. The Lady Kittens (20-11) recorded the first of four straight 20-plus-win seasons and added to the school’s trophy case with a 60-42 victory over Cedar Creek in the Division IV select championship game.
The state championship game has become commonplace on Southern Lab’s schedule with four consecutive trips to the state final.
They lost to Northwood-Lena (54-51) before avenging that defeat a year later (56-41) and adding the school’s seventh overall state title, the sixth for Chaney as a player or coach, last season against Cedar Creek.
Southern Lab is tied for sixth all-time with seven state championships.
Lamar signee Shaila Forman was voted the Most Outstanding Player in Class 1A and ended her brilliant career with three first-team All-State selections, with her stretch interrupted by a knee injury in 2023.
Junior Asia Patin landed on the first team All-State squad for the second time in her career, while the Lady Kittens were also represented on the first team by Kinsley James (Baton Rouge Community College signee) in ’24.
“The administration, community … the village … saw the vision which you see now with three state championships and a runner-up,” Chaney said. “People believed in the vision. People believed in me and are a part of where we are now.
“Dr. Brister, our athletic director (Thomas Saulsby) and the supporting cast are the best in the world,” said Chaney, an assistant in this year’s LABC all-Star game. “They asked what I needed. It was never no. They saw the vision and wanted it to come true. They wanted to help.”
Simmons, who teamed with Chaney on two state championship teams at Southern Lab, made her mark in her inaugural season at Grambling with a 23-10 overall record and a 15-3 showing in Southwestern Athletic Conference play during the 2023-24 season.
It was the most wins since the 2002-03 season for the Lady Tigers, who were 15-15 last season and 12-6 in SWAC play.
Simmons believes Chaney will play a key role on her staff because of her winning background and work ethic.
“When you surround yourself with winners, the conversations are just different,” Simmons told HBCU Gameday. “Coach Quianna brings experience, a wealth of knowledge, and an edge I’ve been missing. GSU women’s basketball definitely got better.”
Chaney said she’s indebted to a group of players willing to listen and embrace hard work.
“It was a great experience,” she said of her seven years at Southern Lab. “I learned a lot about myself. My players actually taught me more, probably than I taught them. I know this is a different generation of kids, and I’m glad I was able to make adjustments to fit their needs at times.
“I’m glad I didn’t get caught up in old (coaching) ways,” she said. “I’m glad I was able to make an adjustment for the betterment of the program. If I hadn’t made the adjustments, I don’t believe I’d be here.”
The heyday of LSU women’s basketball during Chaney’s career, which included four of the program’s five straight trips to the Final Four, was a blend of talented players who bought into a singular goal and were extremely coachable.
Current Lady Tigers assistant Seimone Augustus was the headliner of the group with All-America awards and Kodak All-America plaudits, but the group of players during Chaney’s career also proved to have good basketball acumen, which has further surfaced in their post-playing careers.
Augustus completed her first season on coach Kim Mulkey’s staff, joining former LSU players such as standout point guard Temeka Johnson (Western Kentucky), Ashley Thomas (Furman), and now Chaney on collegiate coaching staffs.
“I keep in touch, and we’ve (Johnson) talked about me going to the next level,” Chaney said. “A lot of people didn’t think I’d do it. They’re saying that when you build something so good like that, it’s hard to let go. It’s nothing the kids did wrong. As I talked about the next level and talked to people, they talked about this window, and I needed to start thinking about it.
“I’ve been at Southern Lab for seven years, I’ve got this window,” Chaney said. “I think I took heed of it and buckled down and thought if I was going to go, it may be time within these next two or three years. If I didn’t move then, I wasn’t going to move. My gut was telling me this time to go forward. I guess this was God’s push.”
Featured Image Courtesy: gsutigers.com