Ithaca’s Jocelin Wright takes over TC3 women’s basketball

As the college basketball season gets underway this week, a familiar face will be leading the Tompkins Cortland Community College women’s basketball team.

Jocelin Wright takes over the Panthers after spending the last two years as Dave Stevenson’s top assistant coach. The Ithaca native is excited and grateful to take the reins for a program she already has close ties to.

“Basketball has always been a huge passion and a huge part of my life, as well as athletics and sports in general,” Wright said. “I went to school for sports management. I feel like my purpose is to be involved around sports because of how much it shaped me. When I was given the opportunity from Coach Stevenson, I was just ecstatic. I’m very excited to be in this position.”

Wright replaces Stevenson, who retired after eight seasons at the helm. Combined with her prior experience playing at Ithaca High School and Nyack College, Wright has learned plenty along the way to becoming a head coach.

“He’s given me the perspective of player versus coach being two completely different things,” Wright said. “He’s really exposed to me situations in the game like how to read the clock and use it to your advantage, scenarios of when to use timeouts and not to use timeouts. And then there’s just the little things like making sure that the team’s being ran how it should be, gameday scenarios are being taken care of, the girls are being taken care of in terms of team bonding, and just being charismatic about them and understanding that they’re more than just an athlete. They’re also students and young ladies, and he really took a lot of pride in that.”

The main thing that will carry over from Wright’s playing career is a defense-first identity, as Wright was a well-rounded defender with the Little Red and the Warriors.

“At the end of the day, I feel like defense is what changes the momentum of the game,” Wright said. “If anyone were to look at my stats, ball control is really where I as a player would show up. This year, I’ve been working with the girls a lot on just understanding that playing time and all of that revolves around defense. The offense will come up, but we’re gonna make a statement defensively.”

Wright gets the unique opportunity to coach a fellow Ithaca High alum. When Tatyanna George committed to TC3, one of the biggest draws was the appointment of Wright as head coach. Their relationship dates to George’s middle school days on the junior varsity team, where Wright came to one of their practices to teach skills. For Wright, it’s all come full circle.

“I’m very excited,” Wright said. “Ithaca has done a great job of developing their players… They’ve just always been able to help push athletes through and develop them to flourish to compete at any collegiate level. I’m very, very excited to be working with Tatyanna. She’s definitely going to be a special vessel for us within the paint this year.”

The Panthers are filled to the brim with talent from all across Section IV, namely Elmira’s Amarionah Dixon. The sophomore led the team last season with 16.7 points per game and 15.1 rebounds per game. Wright pointed out many key factors into what makes Dixon a consistent double-double machine.

“She really just has a natural IQ for the game, and she just flows within the game,” Wright said. “She lets the game come to her, and she uses her athleticism to her advantage. She works so hard inside to come up with a lot of offensive rebounds, which gives her those points to be able to produce.”

Other Section IV players on the team include the Binghamton duo of Meadow Fann and Promise Myers, Deposit’s Kayla Suderi, Newark Valley’s Jasmine Graham, and the Foley twins (Abby and Gabby) from Tioga. 

The Panthers will no doubt look to improve their ranking in their conference and region, but they have an even loftier ambition over the next two years: hang a banner inside the gym. Wright knows that they’ll have to gel together on the court in order to make that goal possible.

“About seventy percent haven’t played together before, so it’s just getting that family aspect to trust knowing what your teammate does well to succeed,” Wright said. “It’s definitely team bonding, and then just working to practice how you play. It’s a very popular saying but it’s one of the most truthful sayings. It’s just pushing the girls, bringing positivity, and [creating] an environment that they want to be there so then they will work to continue to succeed for the program and for themselves.”

The Panthers open up the season on November 9 at home against Onondaga Community College.