Win Over UNC Illustrates Seniors' Path To Legacy
March 02, 2024 | Women's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
What these seniors are leaving behind is more important than any amount of wins or losses.
JoJo Lacey's megawatt smile told a story that extended well beyond the final score atop Conte Forum's video board. She had, moments earlier, been on the court as her Eagles survived a frenetic fourth quarter and a back-and-forth final minute against a North Carolina team bent on ruining the first three-plus periods of her Senior Day. Now, as the Tar Heels retreated to their locker room showers before boarding the bus for an eventual flight home to Tobacco Road, the senior broke out dance moves and stamped a moment that magnetically drew fellow senior Dontavia Waggoner toward the maroon-colored letters at the middle of the arena's hardwood floor.
Along with Kayla Ivey, the three members of Boston College women's basketball's senior class enjoyed a moment for themselves on a day geared towards their accomplishments. They walked with loved ones for a pregame ceremony honoring their individual journeys, but the aftermath of the win was strictly for the trio and their teammates. There was no confetti falling, nor would they cut down nets, but the joy was obvious for players who transitioned the program through eras clouded by both a reality-changing pandemic and a significant alteration to what it means to play college sports.
"We always talk about commitment and having two feet in," said head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee. "That's something that these players had, and they stuck with us. I think that shows what kind of school Boston College is because they're all going to get BC degrees, which is a big deal. It's not easy to achieve, and they worked for it."
All three arrived in Chestnut Hill as Boston College crested its success in Bernabei-McNamee's first years. Cast as understudy role players for superstars like Taylor Soule and Marnelle Garraud, they played limited minutes during the team's run at the NCAA Tournament before Ivey and Waggoner broke out with featured roles in the WNIT wins over Maine and Quinnipiac, and it was Ivey who delivered the strike pass to Cameron Swartz that allowed BC to take a game-tying three-point attempt as time expired in the loss to Columbia.
The performances set a tone for the future, but the ostensible preview of watching Lacey, Ivey and Waggoner took a detour prior to the 2022-2023 season. Four members of the team's starting five - including Soule, Garraud and Swartz - were gone, but the trio weren't able to gain significant time together on the floor because Ivey sustained a knee injury and was sidelined for the entire season.Â
Because Waggoner transferred from NC State in the offseason between the COVID-impacted year and the 2021-2022 season, it also meant the trio barely played together until they began starting for BC in November. It was a marriage-in-waiting of sorts, but the first half of this season illustrated what could have been when they each began filling starting spots around which Bernabei-McNamee built her roster.
"My freshman and sophomore year, I didn't really play as much as I really wanted to," Ivey admitted, "but I kept working, kept learning and kept getting better, day-by-day. Eventually my time was going to come, so I think that just staying true to myself and continuing to work, that hard work will pay off."
"When you look at my first two years," Waggoner agreed, "I had to fight for my spot. After that, though, I got my chance to go out and show what I could do, and I just took it and ran with it. I want to show the young players that you can do anything if you work at it and keep believing in yourself, so you can let the coach trust you."
Each player had their own version of a breakthrough performance in the first half of the year, but what they offered BC went deeper than anything on the court during the Eagles' wins or losses because they were part of Bernabei-McNamee's first recruiting classes. Ivey and Lacey each had to come into a program occupied by superstars that played together for four years, and they had to forge a program with Waggoner that would look remarkably different from the BC teams that rode its starting five to the edge of a national tournament berth.
Beyond that, they had to commit to a process at a time when loosened restrictions around transferring coincided with the introduction of a name, image and likeness world that remains murky on many different levels. Waggoner, for example, was a four-star recruit who averaged two points per game while making a pair of appearances in the Wolfpack's run to the Sweet Sixteen, and she'd previously been a top-50 prospect who had been nominated to the McDonald's All-American Game. Acquiring her services would have meant plenty, but after three years under Bernabei-McNamee, she became the single season steals record holder for a program that was able to build a defense-to-offense transition scheme around her abilities.
"You need to believe in this program," Bernabei-McNamee said. "All three of them stuck it out, and I think that as a coach, you take so much pride in bringing people from all different areas into one team. That team has to become a second family, and when you see that come to fruition, when I hear them talk about how they're going to stay close and they've made best friends on the team, that's something that really stands out for a lifetime."
There is still basketball left on the schedule, but the clock is unquestionably winding down on three players who piloted Boston College through some of college sports' most turbulent waters. They were forced to adapt to college life amidst a game-changing pandemic that prioritized so many different things over playing sports, but they paved a road through the new normal at a time when nobody quite understands what normal is becoming.
They had opportunities to leave and seek their individual fortunes elsewhere, but they instead aided a talented group of young players into what it means to play Boston College women's basketball. When the day comes that the Eagles are in the postseason, that's something that hangs on them as a legacy, and it's arguably one of the most important messages any person - or group - can leave behind.
"At the end of the day, you have your community at BC and your team," Lacey said, "but it narrows down to yourself. You have to believe in yourself, even when someone is on you. If someone is trying to teach you or help you improve, it's about staying grounded to take the criticisms and see the positives. That's what I've learned from Coach Mac - to stay grounded and believe in ourselves, no matter what."
Along with Kayla Ivey, the three members of Boston College women's basketball's senior class enjoyed a moment for themselves on a day geared towards their accomplishments. They walked with loved ones for a pregame ceremony honoring their individual journeys, but the aftermath of the win was strictly for the trio and their teammates. There was no confetti falling, nor would they cut down nets, but the joy was obvious for players who transitioned the program through eras clouded by both a reality-changing pandemic and a significant alteration to what it means to play college sports.
"We always talk about commitment and having two feet in," said head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee. "That's something that these players had, and they stuck with us. I think that shows what kind of school Boston College is because they're all going to get BC degrees, which is a big deal. It's not easy to achieve, and they worked for it."
All three arrived in Chestnut Hill as Boston College crested its success in Bernabei-McNamee's first years. Cast as understudy role players for superstars like Taylor Soule and Marnelle Garraud, they played limited minutes during the team's run at the NCAA Tournament before Ivey and Waggoner broke out with featured roles in the WNIT wins over Maine and Quinnipiac, and it was Ivey who delivered the strike pass to Cameron Swartz that allowed BC to take a game-tying three-point attempt as time expired in the loss to Columbia.
The performances set a tone for the future, but the ostensible preview of watching Lacey, Ivey and Waggoner took a detour prior to the 2022-2023 season. Four members of the team's starting five - including Soule, Garraud and Swartz - were gone, but the trio weren't able to gain significant time together on the floor because Ivey sustained a knee injury and was sidelined for the entire season.Â
Because Waggoner transferred from NC State in the offseason between the COVID-impacted year and the 2021-2022 season, it also meant the trio barely played together until they began starting for BC in November. It was a marriage-in-waiting of sorts, but the first half of this season illustrated what could have been when they each began filling starting spots around which Bernabei-McNamee built her roster.
"My freshman and sophomore year, I didn't really play as much as I really wanted to," Ivey admitted, "but I kept working, kept learning and kept getting better, day-by-day. Eventually my time was going to come, so I think that just staying true to myself and continuing to work, that hard work will pay off."
"When you look at my first two years," Waggoner agreed, "I had to fight for my spot. After that, though, I got my chance to go out and show what I could do, and I just took it and ran with it. I want to show the young players that you can do anything if you work at it and keep believing in yourself, so you can let the coach trust you."
Each player had their own version of a breakthrough performance in the first half of the year, but what they offered BC went deeper than anything on the court during the Eagles' wins or losses because they were part of Bernabei-McNamee's first recruiting classes. Ivey and Lacey each had to come into a program occupied by superstars that played together for four years, and they had to forge a program with Waggoner that would look remarkably different from the BC teams that rode its starting five to the edge of a national tournament berth.
Beyond that, they had to commit to a process at a time when loosened restrictions around transferring coincided with the introduction of a name, image and likeness world that remains murky on many different levels. Waggoner, for example, was a four-star recruit who averaged two points per game while making a pair of appearances in the Wolfpack's run to the Sweet Sixteen, and she'd previously been a top-50 prospect who had been nominated to the McDonald's All-American Game. Acquiring her services would have meant plenty, but after three years under Bernabei-McNamee, she became the single season steals record holder for a program that was able to build a defense-to-offense transition scheme around her abilities.
"You need to believe in this program," Bernabei-McNamee said. "All three of them stuck it out, and I think that as a coach, you take so much pride in bringing people from all different areas into one team. That team has to become a second family, and when you see that come to fruition, when I hear them talk about how they're going to stay close and they've made best friends on the team, that's something that really stands out for a lifetime."
There is still basketball left on the schedule, but the clock is unquestionably winding down on three players who piloted Boston College through some of college sports' most turbulent waters. They were forced to adapt to college life amidst a game-changing pandemic that prioritized so many different things over playing sports, but they paved a road through the new normal at a time when nobody quite understands what normal is becoming.
They had opportunities to leave and seek their individual fortunes elsewhere, but they instead aided a talented group of young players into what it means to play Boston College women's basketball. When the day comes that the Eagles are in the postseason, that's something that hangs on them as a legacy, and it's arguably one of the most important messages any person - or group - can leave behind.
"At the end of the day, you have your community at BC and your team," Lacey said, "but it narrows down to yourself. You have to believe in yourself, even when someone is on you. If someone is trying to teach you or help you improve, it's about staying grounded to take the criticisms and see the positives. That's what I've learned from Coach Mac - to stay grounded and believe in ourselves, no matter what."
Players Mentioned
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