A Picture and Respect For Shae Leverett That will Last a Lifetime
By Joey Johnston
Special to USF Athletics
It was a moment in time, made eternal by a wonderful photograph. Seconds after clinching the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship, USF women's basketball players lifted their senior co-captain,
Shae Leverett, onto their shoulders in triumphant celebration.
Look at their faces. It's youthful playfulness. The joy of victory. Pure bliss.
Look closer for another shared emotion.
Respect.
As the No. 8-seeded Bulls (18-3) prepare to face the No. 9 Washington State Cougars (12-11) in Sunday night's NCAA Tournament first-round game at Austin, Texas, Leverett's role can't be overstated.
She's the only holdover from USF's last NCAA Tournament team — the 2017-18 squad that was beaten by Buffalo in her redshirt freshman season— and that experience remains a valued asset.
Leverett, a 6-foot-2 center from Rincon, Ga., is second in USF rebounding (6.9 per game), while chipping in with 4.4 points and 21 blocked shots (tied for the team lead). She once had 20 points and 18 rebounds in a game against Wichita State, while being part of 105 USF wins to date (including her redshirt season, when she practiced but didn't play).
When the AAC Tournament trophy was presented, Leverett, senior forward
Bethy Mununga and junior center
Beatriz Jordao stepped forward to accept. At the last second, Mununga and Jordao held back, allowing Leverett to clutch the hardware by herself and raise it skyward.
"Shae deserved that moment,'' Mununga said.
"You have to understand what Shae means to us,'' Bulls junior point guard
Elisa Pinzan said. "She's the leader. In practice, if something is wrong, she makes it right. If we don't have the right energy, she corrects us. She always has what's best for us in mind. She watches over us.''
Perhaps that explains her team nickname.
Grandmom.
Mununga, the team's oldest player and another steadying influence, is "Mom.'' Said Leverett, "I guess I got promoted.''
Leverett is the USF elder, lovable and cuddly in the good times, but a stern truth-teller when that is necessary.
"When I got to USF, the older players showed me the ropes when I was just a little freshman,'' Leverett said. "I learned from them. So I always try to help out the younger girls like they did for me.
"I like to get to know my teammates, what makes them tick. I don't come at somebody straight-on right away. I want a relationship to be established. I'm not bossing them around. I'm trying to help. If they know we're working together for the good of the team, that's how it works. I'm actually pretty laid-back.''
It's not surprising, considering Leverett's rural Georgia roots. Rincon, just down the road from Savannah, is the kind of place where people know everybody in town, where the high-school rivalry games are fierce, where the roots are often deep.
There will always be a bit of Rincon in Leverett, although she now has designs on exploring a big wide world. She got her bachelor's degree last spring in Health Science and now she's studying Information Systems. Ultimately, she'd like to work in health care because she's concerned about what she calls a "disparity'' in the health care offered to some disadvantaged Americans.
She said USF has opened her eyes to new thoughts and diverse people. She's grateful for those opportunities.
Meanwhile, as the NCAA Tournament moment draws closer, she's feeling some urgency.
Along with some gratitude.
"I can't express what it's like to feel the amount of love that was showed to me,'' Leverett said. "After we won the tournament, that moment was priceless. They started lifting me in the air and I was like, 'What are ya'll doing?' I had no idea.
"I trusted they weren't going to let me fall. When I saw the photo later, it just showed the bond we all have. All those smiling faces. I was up there, on top of the world, and everybody looked so happy. We all had a part in it, but it was like they all sensed how much it meant to me. And that will actually last forever. What a moment.''
Picture perfect.
