In Jamira he trusts
Niagara College women’s basketball coach Chris Rao and three-year captain Jamira Rousseau have an atypical coach/player relationship.
“I don’t think I have worked with a player in the post secondary game that understands the game on my wavelength as well as Jamira,” Rao said. “We have such a great partnership and she has a great understanding of what I want and I understand what she is looking at. I am comfortable with her calling the shots, calling the plays and making the decisions out there.”
Rousseau is not shy to express her opinions in the heat of battle.
“She has told me to sit down a couple of times this year and that she has got it. It’s perfect and it’s not something I take offence to because I trust her so much with what we are doing.”
Jams, as she known by her coach and teammates, laughs when asked about that.
“Chris and I have a great connection and Molly (Taylor) and I are in his office a lot of times figuring out plays and game plans,” she said. “Sometimes he will call something on a whim on the court and the five of us on the court have already thought of a plan. We will be like ‘Sit down. We’ve got it.’ And then we will come out with a shot and we’ll look at him and he will be like ‘OK. You guys got it.’ ”
She agrees that wouldn’t have gone over well early in her career.
“It comes with time and he trusts me as a player.”
Rao describes his point guard as awesome.
“She is everything you would want in a leader and everything you want in a player. A lot of the stuff she does doesn’t show up on the scoresheet. That sucks because I think she is one of the best three-point guards in the province and the other two are First Team All-Star, four-year OUA (Ontario University Athletics) players. Jamira is at that level and we are so lucky to have a person of her quality, character and ability.”
The 21-year-old Welland native has seen her game evolve over time.
“As the years have gone by, my role has gotten a lot bigger. I am a big leader for this team and I really enjoy leading, getting people open for shots and putting everyone in our plays.
That role has seen her scoring dip to 6.1 points per game this season compared to 8.9 for her career.
“I have told Chris multiple times that my scoring is a lot different but I am a much better basketball player now because I am smarter. I am seeing different stuff on the court and I am seeing my teammates open on the court. I am happy getting them their shots.”
Rao would certainly agree.
“Last year, a lot of the scoring fell to her and it felt like we had to manufacture points. Her and Taryn (Mitchell) are the best ball screen decision makers we have and because the weapons have gotten better around her, she has spread the love around a little bit more,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t show up in true assists because we move the ball after but the last two playoff games she had had seven assists in each game and has really made us go. She has led us in minutes and she is a kid who calms us down. We want the ball in her hands.”
The 5-foot-8 guard is excited to see how the Knights will fare in this weekend’s Ontario Colleges Athletic Association Final Four at Lambton.
“This is one of the most competitive teams that I have been on. We have gotten into little fights and arguments in practice and it almost happens once a week but it just shows how competitive we are. We all want to win and when we are playing our five-on-five games in practice, you can tell everyone is going at each other. We want to make each other better and we have a lot of skill on this team.”
It is a case of where not all internal conflict is bad.
“It makes our team stronger because once we do have those little kerfuffles, the next day we are all good and we are a team.”
The former OCAA West All-Rookie Team member has mixed emotions heading to the Final Four.
“I am really excited and not as nervous as I thought I would be. I am more excited to play basketball and do our thing because, if anything, this is a team that can get us to the gold medal game and win a gold. I have trust in my team and I think we are going to do really well. We are all a little anxious but I think we are going to be just fine.”
The social worker student and four of her teammates were members of a Niagara team that won an OCAA bronze medal two seasons ago and that experience can’t hurt this weekend.
“One of the things I have been working on and something all the girls had been talking about is that this is going to be hard,” the Welland Notre Dame graduate said. “We know it is going to be the hardest weekend and we have to accept that and grind for the next week straight. We just have to get through that storm.”
