Lady Griz Orientation :: Zoey Washington

Her phone log could tell a revealing story on its own, empirical data proving the inverse relationship between her daughter's happiness and the amount of time she needed with family on the other end of the line just to get through another day. Then another. Then another.

Zoey Washington had always been the light, the brightest one in the room, the one who made everyone else's day better just by being in her orbit. The more she gave, the more she received; the more she received, the more she gave, the teammate every player wants to have standing beside them.

When that light last winter began to first flicker, then dim, Jennifer Washington knew something was wrong.

Her daughter had long been the fastest among her peers, the tallest, the one for whom sports came easiest, the player, no matter the sport, who had the coach of the other team reminding their players that she was the one they had to focus on, she was the one they had to stop or at least slow down to have a chance.

But they never stressed that, Jennifer and her husband Adrian didn't. "Instead of making her the shining star, we wanted to make her the best teammate," says Jennifer, who coached Zoey in youth soccer, later in volleyball, leaving the basketball to Adrian.

"With all three of our kids, we coached teamwork, unselfishness. We wanted her to find the open girl. When you get to see her play, you'll see how incredible of a teammate she is. That's what makes Zoey the most special."

Washington played a career-high 21 minutes last December when St. Thomas, the upwardly striving Division I school in St. Paul, less than 20 miles from the family home in Mahtomedi, Minn., played at Idaho as part of the Big Sky Conference-Summit League Challenge.

Not long after, she was in practice, hounding the ball-handler, per usual, when one of the male practice players set a ball screen that none of her teammates called out. Washington ran into the 285-pound player and spun to the ground.

The game at Idaho in early December would be the last one she would play for the Tommies. She suffered a concussion from the impact at practice that would keep her out the remainder of the season, the dark of those winter months settling over Washington, shading the light, more, more, more.

"As a parent, it's heart-wrenching for what you thought was going to be a great situation at St. Thomas," Jennifer says. "We knew it was going to be tough. Playing Division I, it's not easy. Unfortunately that environment and that situation was not conducive for Zoey to thrive in."

That's where the phone log comes in, showing FaceTime sessions between daughter and parents that might stretch for two hours, Zoey wondering if the easiest path would be to step away from college athletics, the dream she'd held since the second grade, when she announced she wanted to play at UConn.

She didn't have basketball as an escape, sidelined as she was from the concussion, and what if that was taken away, not for weeks or months but forever? She couldn't even do cardio sessions to burn off the angst, the headaches arriving shortly after her blood started pumping.

She had nowhere to turn to get a clear answer: What was she supposed to do?

"The biggest thing for me was the mental side of it," she says. "Environment plays a huge role, especially in college athletics. It's hard enough. If you don't enjoy the environment every day, it's really hard and it can make your mental health really bad.

"I love being around people and bringing good, positive energy, and I felt like I was dragging myself through every day trying to be that person. It was really hard. I talked to my parents and said, I don't think I can keep doing this. But I worked so hard for this my whole life, I couldn't just give up."

For all the pearl-clutching about the transfer portal and how it's made it too easy for college athletes to hop from one school to another, maybe even another, loyalty taking a backseat to the totems of me and now, there are some beautiful stories to be found if you can wipe away some of the general muddiness.

Zoey Washington's is one.

She entered the transfer portal after the season, not knowing what interest might be out there for a player who had a thin on-court resume from two seasons of college basketball: 18 games played, 91 minutes, 32 points, 11 rebounds.

When first-year Lady Griz coach Nate Harris announced this spring that Washington would be joining the Lady Griz, it didn't make much of a headline, not with only numbers to go by. But that was missing the point, Washington always bringing the most value in the margins, in the un-measurables.

"I never worry about making a splash as much as I worry about getting the right people here, and I think she's one of the right people," Harris says.

"She is a high-quality teammate, she is trustworthy. As much as we value team, as much as we value people connecting in a way that's useful, she is going to be a great example of that, a catalyst in that."

Remember that phone log, the one with the daily calls last winter and into early spring, those therapy sessions? The entries have been getting spread out more and more since early June, since she moved to Missoula and joined her new team. Now a day may pass without a call from daughter to mother. Maybe two. That's a … blessing?

"Folks we're closest to have reached out to check in and see how Zoey's doing. I say, honestly? I don't even hear from her, so I think she's doing amazing," says Jennifer. "Now I have to text her friendly reminders to call her mom.

"I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity, the second chance that she's been given at Montana. She's not 17 miles but 17 hours from home but it warms my heart to know that she's happy and thriving and in a very supportive environment."

That she's not in Minnesota goes against the storyline, Jennifer, too, growing up in the State of Hockey, falling for the sport the way kids from Mahtomedi to Warroad do, Jennifer following her older brother to pond-hockey games, street hockey, anything with puck and stick.

There were no school teams at the time for girls, so she joined a women's league in Mounds View, a true melting pot of puck fanatics, anyone from ages 10 to 60 welcome. Finally, Mahtomedi started a girls' hockey program and who scored the first goal in program history? Jennifer George.

She was a product of Title IX, her mom, who had lacked access to sports, giving her daughter every access she could find, hockey not only winning Jennifer over but taking her to the team at Minnesota State Mankato, a former club program that was now in its first year in the powerhouse WCHA.

She lasted only one year, multiple knee surgeries and the desire to have an active lifestyle beyond her teens, rather than sacrificing all for hockey, forcing her to give up the sport. "I decided I wanted to be able to walk when I got older," she says. "I was forced to kind of hang it up."

But hockey continued to provide, her older brother, Todd, then in his final season as a Maverick, making a name for himself with 20 career goals, 71 assists and 128 penalties, the last of those still a program record. Everyone in town, it seemed, knew "Georgie."

She'd been in town only three days as a freshman when someone at the grocery store asked her if she was Georgie's little sister. The guy lived near where she had just moved in, so, as college kids do, they made a backyard party out of it, Adrian Washington, the guy's roommate, also coming along.

Adrian Washington. What a name! "When I met him, I said, that would be funny if I married you. My name would be Jennifer George Washington. Six or seven months later, we started dating and here we are 25 years later."

Washington arrived in Minnesota from Texas, sight unseen, to play basketball at Bethany Lutheran, also in Mankato, today a four-year institution, then a two-year junior college, which had him later going to MSU Mankato, meeting Jennifer, the couple taking their histories and applying them to parenthood.

"Sports were such a big part of our lives growing up, so we knew the value that sports provided us, the opportunities they gave us," Jennifer says.

"As a parent, you want your kids to be busy. Does that mean busy playing sports? We were open. We knew our children might not like sports but it was important that they stay busy and choose things where their passions lie. We want to teach them responsibility, teamwork and goal-setting."

They kind of knew where things were headed when their oldest of three declared as a second-grader that she was bound for UConn. "We never shot it down," says Jennifer. "She knew from a young age that she wanted to play college sports.

"She put the work in, made sacrifices and missed a lot of things in her teenage years because she was focused on those goals. That was our goal from the beginning, to help them find something they were passionate about and work to achieve it."

Given this story's theme – you know, basketball – it's hard to believe Washington one day announced to everyone, I'm not playing basketball, I'm not playing basketball, so much in love was she with soccer. Thank goodness for the family's two-sport rule, where one had to be balanced out with another.

By fifth grade she was balling with Minnesota Fury, a name you best get familiar with, seeing how it's turning into a feeder program for the Lady Griz. Back then, Fury didn't have a particular player from southern Minnesota, the one Washington was assigned to guard every time the teams matched up.

It's still one of the toughest defensive assignments, Minnesota division, she's ever had, trying to slow down this volume shooter from Kasson.

"Oh my god, if this girl shoots another ball," she says today, the memories still vivid. "Ugh. Aby Shubert! Aby Shubert! You're going to make another one? I played her like 100 times. Everyone was like, don't let her shoot! I'm trying but she's going to make it!"

If opposites attract, sometimes similar does as well, peas coming in the same pod for a reason. "Our personalities are so weird and funny and outgoing. Okay, let's be weird and funny together," says Washington, who a few years later welcomed Shubert to Fury.

"She was so good that it was irritating to play against her. Then it was, I love having you on my team! She's such a big personality that it's fun to play basketball with her."

The lifelong lessons from her parents presented more and more, especially as she moved into travel basketball, where there can be a me-first slant to things as players look to make a name for themselves. After all, that's why programs like Fury exist, for not only skill development but exposure.

"She knew she had talent but she wanted to be known as the girl who made the extra pass or said, I will exert all my energy to defend the best player so you don't have to. She'd rather take the charge than be known for how many points she scored," says Jennifer. "We taught that from a young age."

That's why she always drew defensive assignments like KK Arnold, who grew up in Wisconsin and was last seen scoring nine points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting in early April in the national championship game as Connecticut defeated South Carolina.

"Aby and I still laugh about it to this day," says Washington. "She was one of the toughest players I've ever had to guard, but I like the challenge. If I stop somebody, it gives me energy. That's kind of how my brain is wired. That's different because a lot of people don't like playing defense."

Programs noticed, early on, like when she was in middle school, college coaches asking her about her interest in majors before she had taken her first class as a high schooler. It brought tears to her dad's eyes the day she signed a National Letter of Intent to play at nearby St. Thomas. It was perfect.

"There was a lot to like. She would be close to home and at a wonderful school. We were pinching ourselves," says Jennifer. And things can change, just like that. "It's tough to see your kids struggle, with a concussion and other situations that were surrounding her. It breaks your heart."

Washington played in 14 games as a true freshman, only four last year, out for the season after suffering that debilitating concussion in December. "I was in a rough place. I just wanted to feel like myself again," she says. "The sport I grew up loving so much was just mentally taking such a huge toll.

"This time around, I knew I needed to be in a good environment. I know I can work hard and do the things I want to do if I'm in an uplifting environment and have fun with people every day. We're doing hard stuff but something we love, so we might as well make it fun."

Hmm, if only she had someone, perhaps a best friend, who had started her college career at one school, decided it wasn't the best fit, then arrived at Montana, where the weight was removed and basketball was fun again.

"That's when I talked to Aby," Washington says. "She had been through it, her own thing at her old school. I was talking to some schools. Montana came out of nowhere."

Shhhh, nobody tell Aby that Zoey is talking to Harris and the Lady Griz. That might jinx it. "I didn't want to tell Aby because I didn't want to get her hopes up. I remember her coming here and saying, I love basketball. She had such positive things to say about this place."

Washington was offered, she committed, she moved to Missoula and joined her new teammates earlier this month.

"After being here, Aby was not lying. It's like, wow, it's fun to come to practice every day," Washington says. "It's fun to be around these people. The coaches have created a crazy-good environment. It's been very refreshing. It's giving me my love for basketball back, which I truly appreciate.

"I'm 1,000 miles away from home and I've never been happier. It's not where you are, it's the people you're with. That's made a big difference for me. This is the Zoey my parents have known my whole life." Maybe she should call them and let them know. They're probably waiting.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Aby Shubert

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