Jordan Giles/Fourth Estate
Redemption Paid off, Next stop: NCAA Matchup against Florida State
BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, SPORTS EDITOR
On March 9, Mason’s women’s basketball won their first-ever A-10 championship, punching in their ticket to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.
The team’s run began in the quarterfinals against Saint Louis, where it secured an 87-57 victory led by sophomore guard Kennedy Harris, who scored 18 points. Advancing to their first-ever semifinals in the A-10, the Patriots defeated Davidson, 63-50, with redshirt sophomore Zahirah Walton scoring 16 points.
In the A-10 final on March 9, Mason claimed its first A-10 trophy with a decisive 73-58 win against Saint Joseph . Senior guard Paula Surarez dominated the way with 23 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Walton added 19 points, with graduate student Nalani Kaysia and Harris each contributing 11 points.
Surarez, Walton, and Kaysia were all named to the A-10 Championship team. Across the three games, Surarez averaged 16.3 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game. Kaysia averaged 8.3 points and nine rebounds, with her defensive efforts preventing key scoring opportunities.
“You come into a school wanting to create change and win championships,” Kaysia said. “Not only have we won a championship now, we’ve made history, we left our legacy, our mark.”
Walton was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding player, averaging 16 points, 6.6 rebounds and three assists while shooting 46.3% from the field and 50% from the three-point line. “I think it’s really special coming in my freshmen year; it was not like this before Coach Blair got here, she’s the reason I came here,” said Walton. “The coaches made it very special, and I think as a team we worked hard, and that’s what makes it even more better, winning the championship together.”
Since taking over in 2021, Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis has guided the team to four double-digit win seasons. This season, she led the team to its first consecutive 20-plus win seasons and set a program record with 24 wins.
“You know when you have people you’re leading and they believe you’re worthy enough to follow them and that you’re crazy enough to tell them that we’re going to be champions one day and there’s no evidence of that, it’s a big responsibility,” said Coach Lewis. “It is a responsibility that I carried every single day I walked into that arena. I promised those parents that I was going to take care of their child on and off the court and every single year we took steps and I said tonight is the night you take the step to be a champion, so I guess we a little crazy huh?”
With their first conference trophy, Coach Lewis’s mindset wasn’t just about winning the championship for Mason or proving doubters wrong about taking the job—it was about doing it for her dad, who is in hospice.
“I Facetimed him before the game, he said, ‘Go win,’” Coach Lewis said. “He’s not just my dad, he was my coach, he’s a big part of the DMV coaching area. I really wish he could have been here and I knew he was here in spirit, that’s who I thought about in the last minute. This was for my dad.”
The Patriots look to continue their historic season going against Florida State in Baton Rouge, La, on Saturday, March 22 on ESPN 2.
