Senior guard D’Asia Chambers has made quite the impact for the Rock women’s basketball team over the past two seasons, and she looks to end her career with the Green and White on an extremely positive note.
Chambers, who recently became the 14th basketball player in SRU history to score 1,000 points in his or her career, has made it clear that she is more interested in helping her team win any way that she can, rather than just personal accolades.
“I’ve never been the type of person who has wanted to have everything be about me,” Chambers said. “I go out there and I just try to help my team win. If it were better for our team to win with me just sitting on the bench, I would be perfectly fine because all I want to do is see this team win.”
Wins, however, have been tough to come by for the women’s basketball program. Through her first three seasons playing for the Rock, the team had a combined win-loss of 16-62. In each of those three seasons, the Rock women were unable to win more than six games. This season, the ladies have already eclipsed the six win mark in a win against Clarion on Jan. 21 to push the team to at least seven wins for the first time since 2009.
Despite the team’s poor results the past few seasons, Chambers was still able to put up impressive numbers.
In 2014, she earned All-PSAC First-Team honors, leading her team in scoring with 17.8 points per game, as well as averaging 20.9 points in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference games.
Chambers’s journey to Slippery Rock began when she became a standout high school athlete at Farrell High School in Farrell, Pennsylvania. Chambers scored a total of 1,445 career points in high school, and led her team to a combined 70-31 record over four years. Chambers also scored 50 points in a single game with Farrell, a record for the school.
Before deciding to come to Slippery Rock, Chambers attended Division I St. Bonaventure where she intended to play basketball. Midway through her fall semester at St. Bonaventure, Chambers made the personal decision to leave the school and attend a PSAC school to play basketball. The first school to contact her was Slippery Rock, and former Rock head coach Tanya Longo convinced her to join the team in the spring semester of 2011.
“Coach Longo pretty much told me everything I needed to hear to make the decision to come to Slippery Rock,” Chambers said. “It was a hard experience at first because I was immediately redshirted, and had to sit out the entire season even though I was part of the team.”
Looking back, Chambers is grateful for the opportunity to sit for a season and grow as a basketball player.
“I wanted to play and help out the team,” Chambers said. “But I was able to sit back and support the team and just focus on learning more about the game.”
With her senior season coming to a close, Chambers is prepared to lead the charge toward her first winning season with SRU. The Rock women, who are 7-12 heading into an away game versus Pitt-Johnstown Saturday afternoon, have seven games remaining on their regular season schedule, leaving time for Chambers to achieve her goal.
Great job, Ryan. We are proud of you!!