Jordan Giles/Fourth Estate
#BelieveBig season comes to an end
BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, SPORTS EDITOR
Mason women’s basketball’s historic season came to a close on March 22, as they lost to Florida State in the first round, 94-59. Despite the loss, the team broke a record of 27 wins, an A-10 championship and their first ever NCAA March Madness—cementing their place in program history.
“This year, no matter the outcome of this game, does not define who they are as a whole,” Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis said. “They are champions. They have put a legacy in place at Mason. They’ve won an A10 Championship and they’ve had the first ever NCAA birth at the university that can never be taken away,”
Blair-Lewis expressed immense pride in her team, “I thanked them in the locker room for the deposit that they’ve made in this program and I’m super proud of not just the basketball players they become, but the human beings and the leaders they’re going to go out into the world to become.”
In her final game for Mason, senior guard Paula Suarez scored a career-high 25 points, hitting 5-of-9 three-pointers.
Suarez, who played under Coach Blair- Lewis from the beginning, reflected on her journey. “I’m just really happy, really proud of the program, the team…how much I’ve grown on the court and off the court, thanks to the coaches. I’m just really happy, looking back and seeing where the program is.”
Throughout the season, multiple players stepped up alongside Suarez, including sophomore guard Kenndey Harris, redshirt sophomore forward Zahirah Walton, graduate student forward Nalani Kaysia, graduate student guard Ta’Viyanna Habib, junior guard Page Greenburg, sophomore forward Louis Volker and junior forward Nekhu Mitchell. Each contributed on different given nights, not just offensively, but defensively as well, helping to shut down opponents from scoring.
Coach Blair-Lewis emphasized the team’s growth through adversity. “The losses we took this year were losses we needed to take the next step. And, I think those losses prepared us to go into the A-10 tournament this year and really become a team playing at its best and peaking at the right time,” She said. “I’m really excited about this journey especially with this team this year…from rejection to redemption.”
The players expressed their excitement about entering the NCAA tournament, eager to finally experience what it’s like to compete on the national stage. Before the game, Coach Lewis sought the perfect message to inspire her team.
“The story that I want to tell is the story that you wrote—your story—a story that will be for years to come told about these great women who believed in something when there was no evidence of it,” Coach Lewis said. “That believe big enough to believe that they could be future champions and you guys are the authors, so you get to decide how long these chapters go. And when the chapter ends tonight, I’d like for you to keep writing because I’ve enjoyed reading every single page of your journey.”
With that, Mason women’s basketball’s incredible “Believe Big” season comes to an end. But with the foundation laid and a bright future ahead, their story is far from over.