By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — Growing up, Laycee Drake spent countless hours glued to a screen.
But it wasn’t video games or television she was addicted to, it was the game of basketball. Specifically, she found herself watching highlights of some of the great players of our generation: Kobe Bryant and Kyrie Irving. One video after another she would watch, enamored with the shifty dribbling, play style and mentality of the two.
Then, she would put the screen down, pick up a basketball and try to recreate what she had just seen those NBA Hall of Famers do in her driveway.
That passion for the game has stuck with her throughout her career — through high school, her three years at UMBC, last season at UAlbany and now at St. Bonaventure. And while she admits that she has accepted that everything Irving and Bryant did most likely won’t work in today’s era of college basketball, the mentality, how she operates and sees the game and the memory of that girl who spent hours watching highlights has remained with her.
“At home, when I was younger, I used to watch videos of Kobe and Kyrie and then try to emulate it in the driveway,” Drake said. “That was what I did growing up. I think I have to get away from the Kyrie (side of things), he dribbles a little too much and it’s not really the Bonaventure style, or any college basketball style, really. But Kobe’s mentality is obviously great to have.”
Drake is one of the many new faces to have joined the Bonnies over the offseason, occupying roster spots left after a mass exodus following last season. But she is far more than just a placeholder, as was put on display in the team’s 79-68 exhibition game win over Daemen University on Oct. 29.
After shining in the second half, Drake is set to be the driving force for the Bona this season. With her Irving-esque craftiness and Mamba Mentality she was the motor for the team in their latter-half surge. Picking out smart passes, commanding the offense and draining the big shots, she finished with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
This is the exact type of player head coach Jim Crowley wanted in his team. Tough, fearless and clutch with enough experience to know how to take the reins of the team. It helps that he has known Drake for most of her playing career, as she grew up in the next town over from him.
“I went to a Providence basketball camp, so I knew him from that,” Drake said. “And I think that he had just heard about me when I was growing up in that circuit of those small town Class D New York schools. … I knew how this place treats small town kids, and how small to small town kids did here. So, I thought that it’d be a good place for me to go.”
St. Bonaventure’s Laycee Drake (24) pulls up for a mid-range shot against Daemen University on Oct. 29. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Drake spent her first three years of college basketball at UMBC in Baltimore, her best of the bunch being her sophomore year where she saw an increased role with the team, averaging 7.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and just shy of two steals in over 30 minutes per game. Things were on an upward trajectory until an ACL injury derailed her third season with the Retrievers — a recovery period that was tough, but taught her a lot about who she is as a basketball player and a person.
“I love basketball,” Drake said. “I learned that because I missed the game so much. But I think I also learned how to use adversity and embrace it rather than shying away from it.”
After that year, she transferred to UAlbany, a place that, according to her, just didn’t feel quite like home. She averaged 3.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in just 8.3 minutes per game.
Now with the Bonnies, she is finding herself more at home than anywhere she has been on her collegiate journey thus far.
“I’m just not a city girl, so I wanted to come somewhere that reminded me a little bit more of home,” Drake said.
But while she may enjoy the fit of St. Bonaventure more, she is not discrediting all she learned through her first four years at the Div. I level. In fact, she believes the wide range of experiences she has had only makes her a better teammate.
“I like to think that I have all kinds of perspectives,” Drake said. “Freshman year it wasn’t going great for me. Sophomore year, I was playing 30 minutes a game. Then I tore my ACL in my last year (at UMBC) and it wasn’t going super well for me (at UAlbany). So, I’m just trying to use all the perspectives that I have to create meaningful relationships with all my teammates.”
What also helps her teammates is her efficiency. Drake, even through all the trials and tribulations of her career up to this point, has not had a season where she has shot under 35% from the field and under 30% from 3-point range. Her ability to hit the big time shot or dish out the right pass at any given moment is set to make her a crux of the Bona team.
“It’s very valuable for myself, shooting percentages, turnover to assist ratio, but I also think it’s good for my teammates as well,” Drake said. “If I can space the floor right, using my brain, then they can hit me so stuff opens up for me and my teammates.”
And as that bond has grown between Drake and her teammates, a commonality has arisen in terms of what each player on the team wants out of this season. Simply put, they want to be better than last year and surprise everyone.
“Very practically, our goal is to just improve from last year,” Drake said. “We want to win a few more conference games and we believe that we could do something that not many other people do. … We just want to improve off of last year and just worry about ourselves and nobody else.”
Drake and the St. Bonaventure women’s basketball team will officially tip-off its season at home on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. against Div. II Mansfield.
