Rosie Deegan Joins the 1,000 Point Club

BEN WILIAMS ‘24 (HE/HIM) SPORTS WRITER

Senior guard Suzi-Rose Deegan ‘23 took time to reflect on the past four years she has spent with the Davidson basketball program. The heart-and-soul of the squad as well as one of the primary scorers on the team, Deegan is contributing over 14 points a night on over 33% shooting from beyond the threepoint line. However, more important than her accolades on the court is the journey she has experienced off of it with the team and the Davidson program as a whole. When asked about her decision to go to Davidson, Deegan pondered, “I think the basketball program does a really good job of balancing athletics and education, they prioritize studying and our ability to get to classes. I think that’s really important and something that you aren’t going to find at a lot of Division One programs.”

When asked about what she enjoyed about Davidson’s style of play on the court, she grinned, “As a whole, we play a very team- oriented game, offensively and defensively fun to play in.” Deegan brings her upbeat attitude to every game and it definitely rubs off on her teammates, providing a positive spark every time she is out on the floor.

Although some of her senior teammates are injured this season, Deegan does not let that affect her on-court chemistry with the younger players who are getting a chance to shine.

“When you like people, it’s easy. Davidson does a good job of emphasizing relationships over performance so it’s never just me out there it’s all of us…whether I’m playing with people I’ve played with for four years or just a couple of games.” When looking at her accolades, most recently joining the 1000-point club this season, it would be easy for Deegan to stake her claim as a dominant individual performer in the A-10. However, she attributes her success to the team-first mentality that this squad plays with. When asked about the moment she scored her thousandth point, she recalled:

“It’s pretty special, joining a group that is a special group. For me it wasn’t so much as a great individual achievement but more of what the program has allowed me to do. To get that accolade meant a lot to me though in terms of the resilience I showed coming back from injury…yeah it was more about my resilience than anything else.”

Deegan embodied the team-first mentality to a tee as she supported her teammates from the sidelines as she battled back from an injury that kept her off the court for two full seasons.

When asked about the development of her game from freshman year, Deegan commented, “My freshman year I was very much only a scorer, not adequate defense or passing skills…but just watching the game, I feel like I’ve become a better teammate and a better leader.” These improvements are very apparent in the stat sheet, as Deegan has improved both her assists and rebounds per game this season. Buying into the team’s defensive strategy, Rosie grinned proudly, “I’ve taken nine charges…so my chargetaking abilities have developed.”

Deegan plans to continue with basketball even after she leaves Davidson, confident she will have an exciting pro career overseas in Europe, “I can’t wait to explore that route[Europe], but I really don’t know what the future holds, hopefully playing in the WNBL in Australia and who knows maybe the WNBA.” Regardless of where her career leads her next, Deegan is relishing her senior season here at Davidson, “we’re all fighting harder out there, supporting harder, it’s really like our last ride together so we’re definitely going to enjoy it,” as they look forward to the Atlantic 10 tournament in March.

Davidson is currently sitting at the 11seed in this year’s tournament set to begin in Wilmington, Delaware on March 1st. When asked about her prediction for the tournament, Deegan remained optimistic, “We gotta take it one game at a time, we’ve been between seven and eight healthy players all year and we are gonna show that we are resilient, keep playing hard. At the end of the day, anyone can win… we got that underdog mentality and we have the potential to beat these top teams”. Look out for Deegan and Co. to charge full steam ahead into the tournament in the coming weeks.