UMKC: Aries Washington, Samantha Waldron illuminate path to success

UMKC senior guards Samantha Waldron and Aries Washington recently surpassed 1,000 points for their collegiate careers, but the way they have reached the milestone is what’s truly remarkable.

Walking by practice for the UMKC women’s basketball team on the afternoon this past Wednesday, anyone would have seen the team members split into pairs practicing free throws. Under one of the hoops was a pair of senior guards, Aries Washington and Samantha Waldron.

Someone who had no prior knowledge of Waldron’s and Washington’s careers for the Roos wouldn’t have assumed that they were witnessing two of the best players to ever take the court for UMKC practice their foul line shots, but that’s exactly what would have been witnessed.

Both Waldron and Washington are members of the 1,000-point club, and by the time their careers end this spring, will be listed among the top ten scorers in the history of Roo women’s basketball. Waldron reached the mark on December 20th at home against Denver. Washington surpassed the milestone on December 29th at the FAU Holiday Tournament against Stetson.

Despite the magnitude of the moments, Washington says that the achievement wasn’t prevalent on their minds.

"“I don’t really care about that. I’m really happy that we both got there, but it’s not really my goal to keep track of that. I was happy when I knew I was getting closer and closer because I want to make people feel proud of me.”"

That humility was reflected by Waldron hypothesizing about what her response would have been if someone had told a younger version of herself that she would score over 1,000 points playing NCAA D1 basketball.

"“I’m kind of just like a do whatever the team needs person, so if it happens, it happens.”"

Waldron and Washington are stellar examples of the “No I in Team” mentality, but they have an off-the-court life that shows their individualism. Waldron’s music tastes include “Broken People” by Logic and Rag’N’Bone Man while Washington listens to tracks like “Trip” by Jhené Aiko. Both women are fans of the television series, “Marvel’s Runaways.”

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Waldron and Washington are set to graduate in May, with Waldron heading to work in the medical field with her health sciences degree and Washington looking to continue her psychology studies as a graduate student in addition to playing basketball professionally.

As far as their own basketball icons go, Waldron says that she is a fan of Washington Mystics star Elena Delle Donne, and Washington likes the game of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Derrick Rose. Both players have tremendous respect for the play of Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry as well.

As they have become local hoop stars in their own right, Washington spoke to her advice on how those who will follow in her footsteps can reach the same heights.

"“Stay persistent and don’t take any play off. If you want to be great, you have to get yourself in the gym and do the right thing. Just like our coach says, you can’t cheat the game of basketball. If you don’t put in the work, it will show.”"

Jacie Hoyt, the first-year head coach fortunate enough to inherit a roster that includes two of the program’s all-time greats, knows firsthand how Waldron and Washington walk that talk.

https://twitter.com/CoachJacie/status/948693503923642368

There is still much more that Waldron and Washington hope to accomplish before they finish their careers at UMKC, as the Roos have only played one conference game so far this season. Regardless of how far the team goes, Waldron and Washington have demonstrated that being great on the court is about more than how many points a player scores. It’s also about how players go about their preparation and the attitude put on display.

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If points were awarded for those aspects of the game, both Waldron and Washington would have surpassed 1,000 a long time ago.

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