By Jack McLoone
Fordham Women’s Basketball senior forward G’mrice Davis is one of the best players in Fordham history. She is fifth all-time in Fordham scoring and second all-time in rebounds. For the second season in a row, she is averaging a double-double with 17 points and 13.8 rebounds per game. In other words, she’s totally dominant and a big reason why the Rams are hosting Harvard on Friday, March 16 at 7 p.m. in the first round of the WNIT. G’mrice sat down with The Fordham Ram to discuss her career.
TFR: When did you start playing basketball?
GD: I didn’t start playing basketball until eighth grade of my middle school. And then, I didn’t really get serious with basketball until high school. So I played it one year in middle and was like, ‘Oh, okay I’m alright.’ So I got in contact with my athletic director at my boarding school, asking her if there was anything I could do over the summer because I really liked the sport. My ninth grade year, I got really into basketball and then I started playing AAU. I was a late bloomer.
TFR: What got you into playing then, if you started so late?
GD: I always wanted to do everything the boys did ‘cause I was like a little tomboy and I was super physical. So, I tried softball, that didn’t do it for me. I tried cross country. I tried track. Track was pretty fun cause I like to jump. But basketball was just like all-around fun. I could run, I could jump, I could hit. So I was like ‘wow.’ And I’m really, really tall. So, I wasn’t going to go to basketball tryouts and then one of my RAs was like, ‘You have great height. You should just go try, see if you like it.’ And from the first day I was like, ‘Oh, this is fun.’ And I’ve been like hooked on it ever since.
TFR: When did you realize you were maybe good enough to play at the college level?
GD: I think probably about my tenth grade year, because ninth grade I was coming into my own, I was alright. But like I was still offensively challenged. I just liked to run and grab rebounds and hit people. I started playing AAU, and in my tenth grade year I started to get better. And then going into my eleventh grade year, schools really started to talk to me and I’m like, ‘Oh wow. Maybe I can do this. I can be good.’ I think around my junior, sophomore year is when I really figured out, ‘Hey, maybe I can go to college for this.’
TFR: So what was that recruiting process like then?
GD: I hated it. I absolutely hated it. At first, it was fun, like, ‘Oh my god! This school’s interested in me, this school’s interested in me.’ But by the time my junior year came, it was overwhelming. All the schools that was contacting me, calling me multiple times a week, and they want to stay on the phone for this amount of time, asking me all different types of questions, trying to get me to come up to their school and trying to give me their pitch on everything. And I’m just like, ‘Oh my god, I’m hearing this from 20 different coaches every week, it’s just like oh my goodness.’ A lot of coaches I really didn’t click with them. I’m on the phone and the conversations were awkward, there were long pauses. I didn’t really know what to talk about. It kinda got overwhelming and I kind of it felt it was drawn out. I was just like, ‘I just want to pick a school already so I can get out of here.’
TFR: What separated Fordham from the rest of the schools?
GD: Fordham was the absolute last school to offer me. I was in a tournament my junior year called ‘Battle of the Bronx.’ My AAU coach comes up to me after the tournament and is like, ‘Hey, this school is interested in you. It’s pretty close by. I want to take you to the campus so you can see.’
And I’ll never forget, he brought me up during Jubilee, and I love food. I absolutely love food. So I spoke to the coach, and this was the first time I had ever met her. I spoke to the coach, they got me on campus, and I was able to eat whatever I wanted. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I like this school. They have so much food.’ They won me over with food!
But no, but then we started talking more consistently, phone calls, and they offered me. I could just tell, with Coach Gaitley – with other coaches, it was like, not all of them but most of them, ‘Okay when is this conversation going to be over. Oh my goodness, its so long and drawn out I don’t even want to talk to you anymore.’ Or it’ll be like, I’ll look at my phone and just watch it ring.
Coach Gaitley, I see her calling, I’m answering on the second ring. We’re talking for about an hour and a half and the stuff we’re talking about doesn’t have anything to do with basketball. I kinda knew which direction I was heading in when I could just sit there and talk to her for over an hour and not get bored, not looking at the time to see how long we were on the phone or not not even wanting to answer her phone calls, cause that’s the feeling I was getting with other coaches. There were very few that I even wanted to talk to.
TFR: Do you remember what your first practice at Fordham was like?
GD: Oh, it was terrible. It was terrible. I couldn’t make a layup. I felt like everyone was staring at me thinking, ‘This was the girl you gave a scholarship to?’ I felt like a baby deer, just super wobbly, all over the place. It was a new atmosphere, the pace was so much faster. I felt like everybody kinda knew what they were doing and I was just stuck. Before I got to Fordham, I hadn’t touched the ball offensively. I would just play defense and get rebounds and just run around. I didn’t look to score. I didn’t even know what to do with the ball. So when I’m getting the ball on the block and I’m wide-open for a layup, they’re just like, ‘Shoot it!’ and I’m throwing it through the backboard, like no chance of making it at all. That first practice was absolutely terrible and I’m like, ‘Oh. My. Goodness. What am I going to do?’ It was crazy.
TFR: How would you describe the differences between freshman year G’mrice and senior year G’mrice?
GD: Basketball-wise, there’s a huge difference. I’m more confident, more comfortable, just more settled in with my game.
But, I think the biggest changes came personally. My freshman year, I was a brat. I had this attitude about me, where it was like nobody could tell me anything. Like, ‘You can’t say anything to me, what?’ And if you did try to say something to me, I’m coming right back at you with attitude like, ‘Oh no, don’t talk to me!’ It just gradually changed.
I hit a rough point here at Fordham and I was pretty much told ‘We don’t want you here.’ I contemplated on transferring. I really, really wanted to leave. I didn’t want to be somewhere where I felt unwanted. I spoke to my mom, and she just kept me level-headed, said, ‘You should just stay, tough it out. Figure it out.’ And I ended up listening to her and I made it work. But that’s where the turning point was for me. I was like, ‘Okay, I can’t keep up the same antics and stay here. So if I’m gonna decide to stay, something’s gonna have to give.’ I just kinda stopped putting the blame on everybody else. I’m not saying the coaching staff is perfect and I was terrible, but I put a lot of the blame on them and I didn’t take accountability for the things that I did to put myself in those situations.
Once I really took accountability and really bought into the program, it was kinda like smooth sailing. Now my game is evolving, I don’t find myself stressed out and freaking out about the little things. I’m just like going with the flow now.
TFR: So, this year the theme has been that it’s a really young team with all the freshmen. And then with Asnate’s injury, you’re the only senior that’s been playing the whole year. So what’s that been like, being the only senior playing?
GD: I try not to think about it. I try not to focus too much on me being a senior, cause whether I’m a senior or not I have to play with you guys and you guys have to play with me. So, the senior-freshman thing I kinda threw it out the window like, ‘We’re a team. We’re going to have to play with each other. You guys are going to work with me, I’m going to work with you. We’re gonna make it happen.’ So, I try not to think so much about me being the only senior because me thinking about that only puts more pressure on me. I’m just like, ‘You know what? Just go with the flow. Let it happen.’ And when I see times where I can step in and help somebody with something or say something, I’ll step in and try and help as much as I can. But, for the most part, we just play off of each other.
TFR: How would you describe your leadership style then?
GD: I struggled in the beginning with my leadership, just because I didn’t know when to shut up. I didn’t know when to stop talking. And that’s where I feel like the pressure was on me because I was thinking, ‘Oh, you’re the only senior. You have to step up you have to say this you have to point this out you have to redirect you have to do this you have to give constructive criticism you have to talk to them nice you have to get on them meanly sometimes.’ You know it was just so much! And I didn’t know when to shut up. It got to the point where everyone was just like, ‘Alright G. What you’re saying might be a valid point, but it holds no weight because you’re always talking!’ So I had to figure it out; when do I talk, when do I let somebody else step up and take it. And I’ve gotten really good at just picking my points where I bring everybody in. It seems to be a lot more effective.
TFR: Being one of the more experienced players, you play every minute of every game. How does that take a toll on you, how do you prepare for something like that?
GD: In all honesty, this year has been a lot easier on my body than last year was. Last year, my back was hurting, my knees were hurting, my feet, everything on me. It was like I couldn’t even walk, it just was terrible. But last year, I was one of the only people who were scoring, so the ball went through me a lot. I got beat up a lot. I had to go through a lot. This year, I have other people who can have the ball in their hands scoring-wise. Kicking it out, knocking down three, attacking the basket, pull up jumper, going all the way to the rim. You know, other people are stepping up offensively consistently, so it’s not as much of a toll on my body, which has been so great for me. I’m so appreciative of this team this year and what they’re doing for me and how much they’re helping me and how much we’ve grown together as a group through all the ups and downs and all the crazy stuff we had to go through.
TFR: I know the chemistry of this team has been talked about a lot this year. Coach Gaitley has described it as the best she’s ever had in her 34-year career. How much do you think that helps this team?
GD: I would agree with her. Since I’ve been here, this is the best chemistry we’ve had and it helps us tremendously because we can just play off of each other. Like sometimes I’m getting doubled in the post and I know that Lauren [Holden] is going to be out there for the three so I already know what area I need to be looking. We just feed off each other and when we make mistakes it’s not like we’re ripping each other heads off. It’s not like we’re falling apart as a team; we’re able to stay together, stick it out and just really work really, really well together and that has helped us win a lot of games.
TFR: What would you describe your relationship with Coach Gaitley like?
GD: We’ve had a really crazy relationship. It’s had a lot of ups and downs. A lot of times where I didn’t know where our relationship was going and what the dynamics of our relationship was going to be after certain situations.
There’s been a lot of things that me and Coach Gaitley have had to work through, but I think the thing that has kept us grounded – even when we have our disagreements and I’m like, ‘She’s dead wrong!’ or ‘G’s dead wrong!’ or even where we both think each other’s dead wrong and we’re just looking at each other like, ‘I’m not giving in! I think the thing that has kept us grounded no matter what – and we’ll have our times where it’s like ‘Coach Gaitley’s not even speaking to me’ or like ‘I don’t even want to see Coach Gaitley I’m so pissed off right now,’ – I think the thing that’s kept us grounded is honesty.
No matter what we’ve gone through, I have always been honest with Coach Gaitley. I have never told a lie. Just because, I won’t do something that I can’t take the consequences for. I’ve never lied to her. I’ve always been an open book with her, I’ve always been honest. Even when we had our disagreement, we had a lot of meetings behind closed doors where we’re getting stuff off of our chest, but we’re always honest with each other. And I think that was the thing, I think she has a lot of respect for me because of that, and I have a lot of respect for her just because she lets me express myself in that way. Like I don’t feel shut down. I know I can’t say certain things to her in front of the team, but I know when we’re having our one-on-ones and we’re hashing some things out, I can say certain things because she gives me that freedom.
She respects me in that way, and I respect her in that way and I think that’s really been what has kept our relationship grounded throughout these four years with everything that we’ve been through.
TFR: So, you just found out you have at least one more game at the Rose Hill Gym after a rough end to Senior Day. What does that feel like, knowing you’ll get to play in your third WNIT while you’re here and getting to do it at home?
GD: Oh my goodness. Every time that I think it’s my last home game, it’s like, ‘Nope! You’ve got another one. Nope! You’ve got another one.’ I’m excited that we get to play home, I’m really excited. And I’m just really grateful that I don’t have to end my career with the feeling of not being good enough to go postseason. The things that we’ve done, dating back to the foreign tour, have put us in a situation to be one of the elite teams because that’s pretty much what you have to be to go postseason. You don’t just get handed that. I think it says a lot about our team, how hard we’ve worked, our chemistry on the court, off the court. You know, the commitment that everyone has put into everything that we’ve done this year. It speaks volume to this team and I’m just really happy that I get to go out and end my career with the WNIT. You know, it’s not the tournament we wanted, but still, going postseason WNIT, that’s a big deal. And to get to end my season that way and with the group of people that I’m ending it with, it brings a lot of joy to me.
TFR: Is there one specific memory from your time at Fordham that you’ll walk away with, the one thing that will always stick in your head?
GD: I’ve had four different teams with four different personalities and dynamics and chemistries. There was so many crazy stuff that has happened these last four years, so I couldn’t even pinpoint one thing. There’s been so many great times, so many crazy things that’s happened.
But, I think the thing that I can say that I’m most proud of is the fact that, and I think its more of a personal thing, not so much for the team’s, because I’ve had so many memories with these teams, I can’t really say one memory is my favorite… Actually, the thing I think was the best for me was the foreign tour! I don’t even know how that slipped my mind!
That was the first time I had ever left the country. That was where we laid out the building blocks for this program, where we got to know each other, where we first got to play with each other. We got to experience so many new things with each other. So yeah, the foreign tour! The foreign tour is definitely my favorite moment.
You know, it’s not the tournament we wanted, but still, going postseason WNIT, that’s a big deal. And to get to end my season that way and with the group of people that I’m ending it with, it brings a lot of joy to me.
TFR: Usually we end these interviews asking about post-Fordham plans, but I know you’re trying to go pro. What’s that been like, kind of preparing for that while also playing through the season?
GD: Of course, I’m trying to keep my focus on the season, but that is something that is in my mind because at this point the season is coming to a close and a lot of agents are coming to contact me.
Although I’m keeping my foot on the pedal as far as pushing through the season, that’s still something I have to deal with. I have to talk to these agents, I have to see who I want to pick to represent me, who can offer me the best things. Potentially going to the WNBA, I’ve talked to a lot of agents and my name is circulating here and there, so you never know what happens with that. But overseas is looking like a pretty much guarantee as far as what I’m doing after college, and I’m so, so excited. Because entering college, I just thought I would come here and play for these four years and then go get a job somewhere. Going pro was never my plan. These last two years have really shown me, ‘You have worked your butt off. You’re pretty good and people are seeing that! You love this game, why not keep on playing?’ I just gotta stay locked in and stay buckled down and finish the season off strong, as not only is that gonna be a great way to end the season, helping my teammates and myself go onto the next rounds of the WNIT – hopefully to win it – it will also help me as how far or how high I go in potentially in the draft or how high of a level I play overseas. All of it kind of circled around and relates to each other. I’m just trying to stay focused, finish out the season, do what I need to do and prep
