Redeemer University College student Jesseca Brown has broken a significant basketball record in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA).
HamiltonNews.com reported, “With her 1,207th career point, scored on Saturday [January 21, 2017] against the St. Clair Saints, Brown became the OCAA’s all-time career leader in points.”
The daughter of a Wesleyan pastor living in Blacks Harbour, N.B., Brown was discovered by Redeemer women’s basketball head coach, Rob Hooper, at a high school championship game in St. John, N.B.
“I’d never heard of this school out in Hamilton,” Brown said. “[Rob] approached me after we’d won the championship, told me a little about himself and the school.” After hearing how small the school is compared to larger universities, she at first was not interested but ultimately changed her mind. “It was a great decision,” she said.
“Jesseca has changed our program,” Hooper says. “We’d had no wins for seven years, and after she arrived, we won in her second game. She is our go-to player on offense and has helped us recruit more quality players.”
“I knew I would make some changes when I came to Redeemer because they were really bad before I came here. In my rookie year, we won six games in total. That’s when I became MVP and Rookie of the year in the OCAA, so that was a really great year,” Brown said. “To be one of the top players in the OCAA is a great feeling. I never thought I’d be here, in this position, at this time in my life, and I know I wouldn’t be without my coach and all my teammates.”
Brown is in her fifth year at Redeemer, majoring in physical education, with a minor in criminal justice and psychology. She hopes to be a police officer one day, but her immediate aspirations are to play basketball abroad. Her coaches and the staff at Redeemer intend to help her in this quest, but in the meantime, both she and her team hope to make the playoffs this year.
“I have three games left and hopefully we can make it to playoffs. We’ve never made it before, so I’m really praying we do it this year,” she said.
Brown is the second Redeemer student to hold a career points record. Last year, Curtiss Straatsma broke the record in OCAA women’s volleyball.
You can follow Jesseca and her teammates’ progress on the Redeemer website.
About the Author
Krista dela Rosa is a freelance news correspondent for The Banner. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and attends Good News Fellowship Church.
