“She just gets it.”
You have no idea how many times I heard that while covering the Eastern Michigan University women’s basketball team.
But it’s true – Tavelyn James “gets” it.
While every sport has its superstars, it’s rare to possess what James has. It’s a cliché to say she lets the game come to her, but it’s truly what James did. This became most clear to me in a game against Toledo on Feb. 21.
It was a pivotal game in the standings. EMU was clinging to a small lead. James was struggling.
I ran to the bathroom during halftime with EMU up 28-18 and received a text from a friend in the stands.
“Good game so far, but what’s wrong with Tavelyn?”
At the time, my only response to my friend was she was being contained well by Toledo senior guard Courtney Ingersoll.
But I was wrong – because superstars let the game come to them.
In the second half, that’s just what James did. She let the game come to her and finished with 20 points, which was still lower than her season average, and the Eagles won 54-33.
Whether it’s James being named the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award winner, which is given to the most outstanding NCAA Division I player under 5-foot-8, or being named All-Mid American Conference Player of the Year, the all-time leading scorer in Eastern Michigan women’s history helped the team make its second NCAA tournament ever and win the Mid-American Conference West Division and MAC Tournament Championship.
It was undoubtedly a great year to be an Eagle’s basketball fan.
Actually, it’s been a great four years to be an Eagles basketball fan.
When I first started writing for The Echo, I was asked to switch from covering the men’s basketball team to covering the women’s. I wasn’t too excited about the switch, but went ahead with it. I didn’t have much knowledge about the women’s team and admittedly had no idea who Tavelyn James was.
I was missing so much.
While the men’s team was fun to watch, I soon found out that the most exciting athlete at Eastern Michigan was on the women’s basketball team.
It’s sad to see, but James played her last game in the green and white on March 17 in an 80-48 loss to South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
James played one of the worst games of her career but will still be defined as one of the best women’s basketball players to ever play in the MAC.
During her four-year career, she racked up 2,470 points, making her the second-highest scorer in conference history.
She’s had to battle so much while at Eastern. The ongoing NCAA investigation, being told she’s too small for a shooting guard and having the thought that the coach that recruited her was potentially going to be jobless at season’s end, James truly has gone through it all.
But she let none of it get to her.
Instead, she scored 2,470 points, won a MAC Championship and was named MAC Player of the Year.
She just “gets” it.
