Third-year Alyson Jefferson is one of the captains of the women’s basketball team. She is currently the highest scoring player on the team this season and the sixth highest scoring player in the entire North Coast Athletic Conference. In the quarterfinal game against Denison University, Jefferson scored five free throws, the most out of the team. Besides playing basketball, Jefferson is also a co-chair of the Black Student-Athlete Group.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is the age distribution like on the team? Are there a lot of younger students?
There’s two fourth-years, four in my class, five second-years, and five first-years. The captains are three third-years and one second-year, but we definitely have a lot of leaders on the team whether they’re captains or not. Just talking to the first-years and the second-years has been a challenge for me personally because I didn’t have my first year of playing, so last year was my first year of playing.

I’m one of the captains on the team, so I spend time being more of a leader for the other 15 players on the team instead of just focusing on myself. My focus is being more vocal, more communicative, and more receptive to feedback. It’s my first year being a captain in college on this team, but in high school I was also a captain.

How has your team contributed to your success?

We all get along well, and we all are willing to put in the work to understand what we like and what we don’t like with our passes and how our pace is. And that is something that helps us on the court. I believe we have great chemistry, especially when there are certain rotations. As a team, I think communication has definitely been a challenge, but we’ve been working on it throughout the season.

Beyond the court, you’re also a co-chair of BSAG. What’s that like? Has it had any impact on your basketball experience at Oberlin?

Being a co-chair of BSAG definitely keeps me busy. We’ve had a few events, and we’re planning a few more in the spring. I’m definitely busier now than in the fall. Being co-chair allows me to connect with so many athletes across campus, which I enjoy because I don’t always get to talk to people outside of practice or see them a lot in the training room. It’s a lot of coordinating and event planning, talking to different groups on campus and talking with Delta Lodge Director of Athletics & Physical Education Natalie Winkelfoos and Senior Associate Director of Athletics Creg Jantz.

On the court, it helps me with the communication aspect and the time management aspect because with basketball, you have to learn plays and show up to practice, lift, recovery, all those different things. When I also have BSAG on the schedule, it can definitely be a lot to juggle at times, but it has helped me to prioritize a lot.

What are you most excited for in your role with BSAG this year?

I’m definitely most excited for the basketball tournament. Last year, we had one in March when Black History Month events were in March, and it was called the Black History Month Tournament. This year, it’s called Obie Madness, and it’s going to be in April. I’m definitely excited for that because we get a lot of participation in the basketball tournament because it’s not just athletes, it’s people across campus — people in the Conservatory can join, and people in the community come out to watch. I’m glad I can  spread the word about the different Black athletes on campus and share their accomplishments because there aren’t a lot of them in different spaces and on different teams. It’s nice to highlight it.