The fourth-year guard on the women’s basketball team discusses playing basketball with her best friends, the responsibilities of a team captain, her most memorable game, and supporting well-being.
3 min. read
Simone Sawyer, a fourth-year guard on the 17-10 women’s basketball team, had 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and four steals in the final game of her career—a 69-56 win over Brown on March 7—a masterful performance that encapsulated her four years of working hard while donning the Red & Blue.
Sawyer, from Lincolnshire, Illinois, ranked third on the team in minutes (30.1), scoring (11.5 ppg) and rebounding (4.5 rpg), and second in steals (42). She shot 43% from the field, 34% from the three-point line, and 88% from the foul line. Her free throw percentage was tops in the Ivy League and 21st best in the nation.
Penn Today sat down with Sawyer, an architecture major and psychology minor in the College of Arts & Sciences, to chat about playing basketball with her best friends, the responsibilities of a team captain, and supporting mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
What do you enjoy about the game of basketball? The people that I do it with. All of my best friends have probably played basketball with me at some point. Getting to travel is also a good part of it, too.
You were one of the five captains on the women’s basketball team. What are your responsibilities as a team captain? I think I’m a little bit on the quieter side. I think I’m someone that people come and talk to about stuff they have going on whether it’s in their personal or basketball lives. I think I’m also a little bit of a social butterfly, so I hang out with a lot of different people on the team. That’s kind of marvel to connect with people on a social level, which has been great because I’ve met some great people.
In what areas do you think your game has grown the most over the past four years? Definitely using my athleticism to the best of my ability. I think as a freshman in high school, I don’t want to say I was out of control, but I had a lot of turnovers just because I was super-fast. I think something I have really worked on is controlling my speed and getting by people, and landing on two feet and stopping and kicking, or making a move. I think that’s somewhere where I’ve really grown, and then my shooting has improved as well. My shooting percentage was really good this year, and my free-throw percentage as well.
Do you have a most memorable game? Probably the game in February at Dartmouth. I thought that was my best individual game. I couldn’t miss that day; I don’t know if it was something I ate or whatever. My most memorable team game was beating Columbia this year. That was a really fun win for us.
You’re an architecture major. Do you have a favorite building on campus, architecture-wise? I’d probably have to go Huntsman. I think Huntsman has the most unique design.
You are the founder of Mo Mind Matters, which supports mental, emotional, and physical wellness, especially for those often left out of mental health conversations. Can you talk about why you started it? I started that at the end of my freshman year. I think being a student-athlete is very hard at any division, and also just being a human, you’re going to go through challenges. I created that to help people and let them know that they’re not alone and not the only one struggling.
What are your plans post-graduation? I did apply for Penn grad school so hopefully I’ll get in. That’s my No. 1 choice. I don’t know specifically what I want to do. I applied to the mental health and counseling master’s program. I know I want to work in a mental health facility or mental health care unit.
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