With 17 seconds left and the Lady Bears holding on to a one-point lead, redshirt-sophomore Jennifer Ezeh had her first moment in her career in which she realized she belonged on a collegiate court.
The Lady Bears needed the win or else it might put them too far out of reach when they’re aiming for their third-straight Missouri Valley Conference title.
“We gotta stop them,” Ezeh thought. “We have to win this game. This is our house and we just have to win.”
With time ticking down, the Salukis tried driving the lane where Ezeh stood tall. She did just enough for the shot to go wide as she reached up and fought for the rebound. The ball was tied up with 0.5 seconds left.
On the inbounds pass, Ezeh locked down her opponent as the ball was tipped and time expired for the Lady Bears’ 53-52 win.
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“Having this moment on our court with my teammates uplifting me. Like, I was seriously so tired at one point,” Ezeh said. “But they kept pushing me and I said ‘I just have to do it because I have a good backup system.”
At one point in her career, Ezeh thought she’d never get that moment.
Ezeh has been through three ACL tears after being a coveted four-star recruit out of high school. She never stepped foot on the floor in her two seasons at Duke and rehabbed for the majority of her first season at Missouri State until Friday when she made her collegiate debut.
There was a time she thought about quitting. The injuries took a toll on her when she was the No. 65 overall player in her high school class.
“At one point, I called my coach and I was like ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore,'” Ezeh said. “In my third time going through all the rehabs and stuff, I didn’t think I could do it anymore. But the support system that I had was amazing. My coach said ‘no, people want to see you play.’ And that stuff kicked me.”
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Lady Bears head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton never gave up on Ezeh either, despite being rejected the first time she tried recruiting her.
When Agugua-Hamilton was the associate head coach at Michigan State before she became the Lady Bears’ head coach, she recruited Ezeh to where Michigan State, Mississippi State, West Virginia and Duke were in her final four. Ezeh decided to play in Durham, North Carolina.
A few years later, at Missouri State, an assistant coach told Agugua-Hamilton that Ezeh entered the transfer portal. Agugua-Hamilton called Ezeh immediately.
“I was like ‘you’re not going to say ‘no’ to me twice,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “She basically committed right away. She’s like ‘wherever you’re at, I don’t care.’ She never visited and never did anything. She just needs somebody to believe in her so it was a no-brainer for me and I knew she was going to be good.”
Ezeh made her collegiate debut at Southern Illinois on Friday in which she scored two points and grabbed four rebounds in 15 minutes. The Lady Bears lost, but Agugua-Hamilton noticed that Ezeh guarded SIU’s Gabby Walker, who finished with 13 points, the best out of anyone on the team.
Agugua-Hamilton decided to start Ezeh in Sunday’s rematch when the Lady Bears desperately needed a win to stay alive in the conference race.
“I was surprised,” Ezeh said. “At the same time, my teammates kept uplifting me and pushing me hard and getting that mentality going. I was like ‘this is my moment and I need to take advantage of it.'”
Ezeh made the most of her opportunity and had her teammates in tears when the final buzzer sounded with the Lady Bears on the winning end.
Ezeh finished the game with 10 points and 11 rebounds in her second career game and first college start. She held Walker to zero points on 0-of-4 shooting.
Teammate Ifunanya Nwachukwu broke down in tears on the floor and in the locker room. She didn’t have her best game, but she was happy that her Ezeh had her moment after everything she’s been through.
“That’s just how our team is,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “Jenn’s been through so much and she deserves this moment. If we can continue to just be our sister’s keeper and have that selfless mentality, we’ll be fine.”
Ezeh’s uplifting comeback comes at a needed time for a Lady Bears team that has been through so much throughout the 2021-22 season. Two of their best players from over their historic four-year stretch have gone out with ACL tears of their own while they’ve fought through other adversity including COVID-19 stoppages and smaller injuries.
But Sunday’s win gave them a chance to run on the floor with a smile on their faces as the clock hit zero. They got to celebrate a needed win and someone they’ve come to love.
“It was challenging, but I kept pushing and I’m here,” Ezeh said. “It’s been fun. The journey has been fun. It’s pretty exciting and I’m still getting used to it, but it’s been exciting.”
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He’s also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
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