COLLEGE STATION, TX — In light of women's history month, the lady Aggies are making history as well. Here is how the Texas A&M Women's basketball team is paving the way for young women!
The Texas A&M Women's Basketball Team made history becoming SEC regular-season champions for the first time in program history.
These female athletes looked up to those who paved the way for them. Now, they are proud to hold the responsibility of inspiring those that now look up to them.
”If the women before me didn’t pave the way, with what they did and the courage they had to do what they did. I wouldn’t be in the place that I'm at or be able to go to this university, so I am very grateful for the women before me,” said McKinzie Green, point guard for Texas A&M.
”It’s important to have other people to look up before us to see that people have done it, for little girls to be like that’s what I want to be when I grow up,” said Kayla Wells, shooting guard for Texas A&M.
Becoming regular-season champions was something the team set as a goal. But most importantly, they strived to win each day, which McKinzie says, was a big part of their success.
” It was an amazing feeling winning sec regular-season championship, but I think we knew all along that we were capable of doing it because we knew the team that we had,” she said.
As a young girl being inspired by Sydney Carter and Sydney Colson two A&M women's basketball players. Kayla Wells is happy to follow in their footsteps to inspire others as she accomplishes her dreams.
“It was ever since then, that’s who I wanted to be, that’s where I wanted to be. To become one of those people for younger women is really important to me and it’s a dream come true to win a championship on your floor on senior night,” said Wells.
This is one of the main reasons McKinzie Green plays the game she loves, to show young women if you set your mind to something, you can accomplish anything.
”Showing them that hard work pays off and they can play D1 basketball as well as long as they work hard," said Green. "That’s one of the main reasons I play the game because I want to inspire little girls, to show them if they put in the work anything can happen,”
A year ago, the NCAA tournament was canceled, stripping seniors of their last big game, now seniors are able to put it all out there without missing a beat.
“You work all year round to go to the tournament and not being able to go to the tournament was almost devastating, but just being grateful and being honored to be able to go and play,” said Wells.
This year many inequalities have been brought to light by players currently in San Antonio. The difference in weight rooms and meals for the NCAA tournament has shown that although women have come a long way, there is still much work to be done.
Texas A&M Women's Basketball Team was selected as the No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament. Exactly a decade ago, the Aggies earned the No. 2 seed and took home the National Championship title.