Saniyah King left her mark at Howard. Now she eyes success in the SEC

By Wilton Jackson

Saniyah King, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, did not land at Mississippi State for the next chapter of her basketball career due to a lack of success or a winning pedigree. The ex-HBCU point guard averaged 11.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and a MEAC and Bison-best 4.5 assists per game while starting in 31 of 32 games for Howard University last season. She also dished the second-most assists (145) among freshmen in the nation behind Florida Gators guard Liv McGill.

King wants to continue her basketball evolution with dreams of playing in the WNBA after college. With the departure of MSU’s guards Jerkaila Jordan and Eniya Russell to graduation, and Denim DeShields taking her talents to Mississippi (Ole Miss). The Bulldogs needed another collection of elite point guards. King is what Purcell needs while also believing the Bulldogs’ coach and his staff will help her fulfill her hoops dream.

“My main goal [for entering the transfer portal] was development,” King told HBCU Gameday. “I know [Mississippi State] is going to help me become the best version of myself.”

Things will look extremely different for King this fall. She spent her entire life in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region with her mother, Stacey Pettiford. However, Pettiford — an HBCU alum from Howard University — tried to get the 5’7” point guard to leave the DMV to explore her basketball dreams elsewhere. “I wanted her to go away,” Pettiford said. “It’s a big world out there, and she’d experienced the DMV all of her life.” King wasn’t ready to take her talents from the big city to a new hoops terrain. But now, as she transitions to Starkville, Mississippi, the sophomore floor general is ready to embrace her next chapter. One that will include some “peace and quiet.”

“I wanted to slow my life down,” King said. “I don’t know what life is like without hearing trains, ambulances, and cars constantly passing by; I wanted new scenery. That helps me feel at peace now.”

King’s choice and determination to ditch familiarity for the Magnolia State would not be possible without confidence in her dream, faith in God, and the lessons learned at “The Mecca” of HBCU culture.

How King’s work ethic steered her hoop dream

King, who at 10 years old did not have experience hooping with an elite club team, strolled into a DMV gym for a tryout with the Lady Prime AAU basketball team, coached by then-Washington D.C. street hoops legend Lonnie Harrell. Tons of budding, young female basketball players graced the court.

After a couple of drills and some intense 5-on-5 action, Harrell walked over to Pettiford and did not waste any time in his desire for King to join the team. “I remember [her tryout] like it was yesterday,” Pettiford said. “Harrell was like, ‘we need her’ and asked ‘how long had she [Saniyah] been playing?’”

King’s genesis in basketball began with playing with boys at the park during recess in elementary school and running a few houses down the street in her Bowie, Maryland, neighborhood to play pickup games during the week. “I didn’t think I was good,” King said with a laugh. Her talent reached new heights when she joined Lady Prime. That season, King and her teammates didn’t lose a game.

As her skills grew with Lady Prime, it later opened the door for success at Bishop Ireton. A private Catholic high school in Alexandria, Virginia. As well as on the AAU circuit playing for Team Durant EYBL, named after 15-time NBA All-Star and DMV native Kevin Durant. However, a “turning point” in her personal development came during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when she completed workout sessions three times per day with Joshua Morgan-Green. The founder of the Triple Threat training regimen is based in Annapolis Junction, Maryland.

“I was probably there from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” King said. “When I was younger, I was always stronger and a little faster than my peers. That summer, I really got skilled. My ball handling went to a different level, I perfected my shot, and learned how to work. He [Green] changed my life.”

How HBCU prepared King for the ‘real world’

King, who entered Washington, D.C.-based HBCU Howard University after excelling in the classroom as an AP scholar and becoming one of the top 15 point guards in Virginia for assists per game, holds a long lineage of HBCU pride in her family. Pettiford, one of King’s 11 family members to attend Howard University, played a key part in her daughter’s interest in attending Howard after many years of taking King to basketball games and events on the HBCU campus.

King, who had spent all of 18 years of her life living with her mom prior to attending HU, saw Pettiford depart the DMV to move to Atlanta during her freshman year. “When I was at home with her [Pettiford] every day, I would spend most of my time in my room,” King said with a laugh. “Seeing her leave helped me mature emotionally.”

With a 10-hour trek separating the two, she began to realize the lessons Pettiford shared with her about life, time management, and avoiding worldly distractions in pursuit of her dreams, both on and off the court.

However, when she entered the gates of the renowned Main Quadrangle, walked across The Yard or stepped inside Frederick Douglas Memorial Hall and Burr Gymnasium for the first time, she quickly found out that Howard was the epitome of “Black excellence” but also a place where she had to grow up and balance a myriad of priorities as a student athlete. “I underestimated college,” King said. “Howard helped me come to that realization very fast. It wasn’t the normal college experience. … Howard really prepares you for the real world.”

While pursuing a degree in psychology, King navigated her way as the only freshman on a veteran HBCU women’s basketball program — coached by Ty Grace — that featured a combined dozen seniors and grad transfer players, including her friend and teammate, Destiny Howell, the Bison’s leading scorer in 2024.

“Saniyah is just the player you enjoy and want to play with,” Howell previously told Howard Athletics consultant Rob Knox in December. “The first thing I noticed about her is that she is not scared of work, she does not duck no smoke. …She is a good person, making it easier to be a good teammate.”

King shared similar sentiments about Howell and also credited her leadership. “Destiny [Howell] always sat and watched game film with me and offered encouraging words,” King said. “She would tell me that I’m “HER” and to walk like it.”

But with Pettiford away and a surplus of daily college life distractions around her, it forced King to find herself while remaining focused on her goals in the classroom as well as becoming the best point guard on the hardwood. King leaned into her faith in God to navigate her challenges. Each day, she logged into Instagram, swiped to her bio section, and visited one of her highlights, named Daily Words of Encouragement (DWOE), which listed her favorite Bible verses and quotes. One of her go-to scriptures comes from Matthew 19:26, which reads, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

As her freshman season progressed, when she wasn’t in class, at practice, or lifting weights with her teammates, she watched sermons and read the Bible, drawing closer to God when she was unable to attend Sunday services at Kingdom Fellowship AME Church in Silver Springs, Maryland.

“I was in a place where I had to find and put God at the forefront of my life,” King said. “His presence in my life strengthened my mindset and my vision to conquer my goals.”

As King embraced her walk with God, she matured in the face of adversity.

King’s grit tested on the hardwood with untimely injury

King, who became a force for Howard in HBCU women’s basketball, captured Rookie of the Week honors 11 times. With three games remaining against North Carolina Central, South Carolina State, and the defending MEAC champions Norfolk State, Howard sat in second place (17-9) in the MEAC standings.

The Bison entered their clash with NCCU, winners of seven consecutive contests and 10 of their last 11 games since league play began on Jan. 4. And for King, her focus remained on finishing the season strong and getting another chance to face the Spartans. However, things took a twist for the Bison point guard. King injured her left foot in Howard’s 74-51 victory against the Eagles, sidelining her for the final games of the regular season.

She wasn’t a stranger to foot injuries. King struggled with bone bruises over the years due to the absence of an arch in her feet. But with the MEAC tournament around the corner, her shot at helping Howard dethrone the Spartans and securing an automatic bid in the women’s NCAA tournament remained in motion.

However, with an injury comes a wave of emotions and physical challenges. When she returned to the court for the league tourney — specifically in Howard’s matchup against Maryland Eastern Shore in the MEAC semifinals — King didn’t feel like herself on the court.

“I played a little scared,” King said. “I wasn’t trying to land a certain way [on my foot] and I kept thinking about that. That’s not my usual mindset.”

HU’s win set up the MEAC title against the Spartans and future 2025 WNBA signee Diamond Johnson, a player whom King respected, studied, and watched from afar throughout her college career in the Big Ten and HBCU hoops. But like the first two contests, NSU defeated Howard 68-56, ending the Bison’s NCAA tourney hopes.

“This was supposed to be the time that I shined [on the court],” King said. “It was almost like they [Spartans] had every single play we tried to run rehearsed.”

Still, the Bison received an automatic qualifying bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT), defeating Siena at home in the first round before losing to Charleston in the second round. Despite the loss, King felt like she took a step forward in her progression after the injury. “My shot was falling, it was like I had woken back up,” she said.

King invests in her future, family during offseason

As King transitions to Starkville, she’s embracing the progression of her game. Her daily 7 a.m. workouts include weight lifting, watching film, listening to basketball podcasts, as well as improving her technique and feel for reading ball screens, shooting offside steps, and elevating her shooting percentage from beyond the arc.

“I hate waking up early,” King said. “But since the season ended, I continued that habit. … Losing in the [MEAC] tournament and heading to a new school has inspired me to work even harder this summer. I want to improve my vision to open up the floor more for my teammates.”

King will have the opportunity to upgrade those skills and more as one of the Bulldogs’ floor generals, in addition to pursuing a business degree at MSU. As she navigates her process, King is catching up on family time with her grandfather — who never missed her home games — and spending time with her four little brothers all under the age of 12. She’s also going on nail appointments, along with brunch and dinner dates with Pettiford. And when the two aren’t tasting new foods at a restaurant, King is whipping up delightful meals in the kitchen, featuring entries like whole fish, alfredo, roasted Branzino, along with an occasional sweet potato casserole.

“She’s really a whole chef,” Pettiford said with a laugh. “Cooking in the kitchen and on the court.”

For King, Howard University and her time in HBCU basketball symbolized family on multiple fronts. While she won’t walk across The Yard every day this fall, she will take the memories of her teammates and a stronger relationship with Pettiford to Mississippi for a new beginning. “God gave me the older sisters I always wanted but I never had when he brought me to Howard,” King said. I love and will miss them all.