Brown University’s Shayna Mehta may be the most dominant Indian American college basketball player of all-time.
Imagine this: a player with Steph Curry’s range and accuracy, handles like Kemba Walker, and swagger like James Harden? You have Shayna Mehta.
Averaging 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.3 rebounds, and an insane 3.6 steals per game for the Brown Bears thus far this season, Mehta is already making a name for herself as one of the most dominant Indian American college basketball players of all-time.
Despite her impressive play the 5’7 sharpshooting guard was unrecruited as a high schooler at San Francisco International High School. She averaged 23.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists per game, and 3.1 steals per game as a sophomore and led her team to its first-ever NCS Championship as a junior. By the time she had graduated she had been named San Francisco Examiner All-City Girls Basketball Player of the Year (2012-13), San Francisco Chronicle All-Metro Player of the Year (2012-13), Cal-Hi Sports CIF All-California Div V – 1st team (2012-13), and San Francisco Chronicle All-Metro Player of the Year (2012-13).
As a freshman at Brown University, Mehta earned Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors and won the Kate Silver ’86 Award, given to Brown’s most outstanding first-year female student-athlete
Now a senior and captain of the team, Mehta already holds several program records, including a single game program record for three pointers made (9) and three pointers attempted (15), and most consecutive threes in a game without a miss (7). She entered the 2018-19 season as the ninth leading scorer in program history with 1,290 points, third in three pointers made (196), and second in three pointers attempted (516).
Currently on an 11-game losing streak, Mehta and the Bears are looking to turn things around at home against the Princeton Tigers on Friday, March, 8th.
Off the court, Mehta is a big proponent of volunteer work, having spent nearly three weeks in Chennai, India, working with Crossover Basketball & Scholars Academy, a non-profit organization dedicated to impacting the education rates of marginalized communities in India through the use of basketball as a vehicle of change.
Mehta has a younger sister, Nina Mehta, a freshman at Brown, who plays alongside her. Together, the Bay Area products are the first Indian American sisters to play D1 basketball for the same team.
The desi hooper will also be the feature on a short documentary by filmmaker Tanuj Chopra, titled “Email Kid,” which will detail her story, from her receiving little attention as a high schooler to becoming one of the country’s best shooters.
Majoring in biology, Mehta hopes to pursue a career in medicine after graduation. She is also bilingual in French, and has limited proficiency in Spanish and Mandarin.
(Feras Ismail is a freshman journalism student at University of Maryland. He can be reached at ferasismail@americanbazaaronline.com.)