Playing the percentages

For the Fresno State women's basketball team, free throws are a precious commodity.

The Bulldogs are 11-9, and 14 of those games could have gone either way. Since free throws determined many of the outcomes, coach Adrian Wiggins acknowledged the need for his team to get to the line more often. When they do, they're 11-1. When they don't, 0-8.

The Bulldogs shoot 70.8%, No. 2 in the Western Athletic Conference. But for every Chantella Perera (87.1%), there's an Erica Henry (44.7%) to make Wiggins' hair turn prematurely gray.

So why do some players excel at the free-throw line and others don't?

Meet New Mexico's Julie Briody and James Madison's Lesley Dickinson. Along with Perera, the senior guards are among the best free-throw shooters in the nation.

Maine's Bracey Barker ranked No.1 at 93.4%, Briody No.2 at 92.3% and Dickinson No.3 at 91.4% when the week opened. Perera was No.22 at 87.1% and leading the Western Athletic Conference.

These dead-eyes share four things: development of a routine, lots of practice, confidence and the ability to block out distractions.

Pre-shot routine

Briody bounces the ball once, positions her feet and shoots. Dickinson sets her feet, takes three slow dribbles and shoots. Perera takes two dribbles, spins the ball in her hands, counts 1, 2 in her head and lets loose.

All three relax before shooting and focus on the front of the rim or in the center. Players often step away from the line after each shot. For some, the distraction results in a brick. Not so with good shooters.

Stockton-based sports psychologist Glen Albaugh says it's fine to leave the line, if it's part of the routine.

"You can have reasonable technique — everyone shoots differently — but if you practice the same movements each time, you increase your chances of success," he says. "The best shooters have steel-trap routines and lock into the rim."

Practice

Briody, Dickinson and Perera made free throws a priority from a young age and that continues today.

Briody shot hundreds a day as a youth and probably 100 a day now. Perera, on her own between drills, will shoot them until she makes 10 straight. And she'll end the day by making 10 more in a row.

"I won't leave," she says, "until I do."

Contests are a favorite way to practice them. Briody, a big fan of Larry Bird, has made 50 straight. Dickinson holds her family record of 36.

Dr. Richard Lustberg, a New York-based sports psychologist, adds his insight.

"The building block of success is feeling confident," says Lustberg, who developed the Psychology of Sports Web site. "The way to that is repetition. With repetition comes success and enjoyment to want to do it more. Never abandon this step."

Confidence

As soon as Briody is fouled, she tells herself, "I'm going to make these. Once I get to the line, I say it again."

That positive thinking is a "mental trigger mechanism," Lustberg explains. "It helps her relax. You can't be tense shooting."

"Those are the easy points," Briody says of free throws. "I tell kids, "If you say you're going to make it, most of the time you will.' "

On those rare occasions Dickinson misses, she tells herself, "Forget about it. Think about one you made. You want that picture in your mind."

It's not surprising that all three want the ball in their hands in close games. In Fresno State's 74-65 victory against Texas Tech, the Red Raiders were so afraid to put Perera on the line they refused to foul her and let the clock wind down in the final two minutes.

"I feel I'm going to make every shot," she says.

Dickinson adds: "I want to have some control over the outcome."

Focus

Perera hears nothing when she's about to shoot. For Dickinson, just background noise. And Briody is "in my own little world."

"When I get to the line, I'm so zeroed in," Briody says. "I've taken this shot more than any other in my life. Most of the time I don't even recognize the people standing on either side."

Albaugh, who works with several PGA Tour pros, compares it to golfers about to putt: "It's all about managing emotions. Slowing down, breathing and getting in a neutral state."

The ability to block out noise, Lustberg adds, comes from hours of developing the routine: "People are screaming at you, waving and hooting, real distractions. For those who can block things out, it's a physical proclivity, and that, too, has to be practiced."

Albaugh points out one last quality that good free-throw shooters appear to share. He calls it "quiet eyes," something he picked up in a three-year study of the Canadian National Team.

"They found that the best shooters had the ability to lock into the rim and hold that image through the shot," he explains. "People who have problems, their vision dances all over the place. If you think about how you shoot, while you shoot, it can destroy the movement you developed through practice and routine."