E

lemy Colome’s words couldn’t bring her head coach’s job back — that was gone — but they still gave Daynia La-Force a sense of closure.

“I wish I had listened to you,” Colome told La-Force in early October. “I wish we all listened to you. It’s not you, coach. It was us.”

Over La-Force’s five years with the program, her players never bought in, she said. The Rams went 3-13 in the Atlantic 10 in 2019, leading to her firing.

When La-Force made the team run sprints, Colome, URI’s most talented player, would often jog through them or even refuse to run altogether. She liked to play more than practice, and La-Force said she and Colome “butted heads” as the coach sensed her point guard’s attitude decline.

“It wasn’t because she was selfish, she just wanted to win so badly that she thought she needed to do it her way,” La-Force said.

Her way didn’t work. She transferred to URI from James Madison after one season of barely playing. Then, Colome wasted her redshirt season with the Rams amid off-court distractions.

Now, Colome has acknowledged her past shortcomings. She said she’s grown up and after deciding to spend her last year of eligibility with Syracuse, Colome has a “totally different mindset,” La-Force said. She craves the same adversity that once caused her to “fold,” she said. For one year at Syracuse — at her third program in five years — Colome has her best chance to prove she’s matured enough to fully display her skills on the court.

“I was just mentally weak,” the graduate transfer said. “I would just break down easily. Now I’m a fifth year, so I don’t ever see me going back to that.”

Colome began her collegiate basketball career at James Madison after graduating from Proctor (Massachusetts) Academy in 2015. But her immaturity hurt her playing time at JMU, Colome said, and she only played three total minutes as a freshman, leading her to transfer.

Colome wanted to be closer to her family and hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and reconnected with La-Force, who had recruited her out of high school. The two met years prior while Colome hosted La-Force and her son, Martin Mann, on a school tour at Proctor. La-Force has always believed in Colome, and said the guard’s unquestionable talent made the decision a “no-brainer.”

“She knew she was kind of taking a risk with me,” Colome said.

By transferring, Colome had to redshirt for a season, her second consecutive on the bench. She became distracted. She’d often arrive to practice as it was beginning instead of 15 minutes early like her other teammates. Colome didn’t know why La-Force and other coaches criticized her — she wasn’t allowed to play that year, anyway.

“She’s the type of kid that just wants to play, play, play,” La-Force said. “She didn’t understand the importance of practicing to get to that level.”

But when she returned to the court as a redshirt sophomore, she starred. The shifty guard had scoring outbursts of 25, 19, 18 and 17. After starting 12 of URI’s first 17 games that year, she appeared exclusively off the bench in the final 15 games.

Off-court issues persisted, and Colome’s goofy, immature side flashed. Once, she impulsively bought a bicycle at Wal-Mart and rode it everywhere for three days, even joining a campus biker club, before La-Force told her she’d have to stop to prevent injury and soreness. She’d record trick shot videos and wear “completely unmatched” outfits featuring clothes three sizes too large, said Nicole Jorgensen, a former teammate.

As losses continued to pile up last season, Colome realized she had to buy in and set a better example for her teammates. She wasn’t ready to be a leader until her final year, Jorgensen said, but a realization after a team meeting led to her accepting the role. She was URI’s top scorer at the time.

“I started realizing how vital I was to the team, and I matured,” Colome said. “I had to hold myself accountable. I had to start coming in early. Do the extra things, be more disciplined.”

After Colome graduated from URI, La-Force called SU head coach Quentin Hillsman and asked him to take the same risk she had taken. She remembers telling Hillsman that Colome is “a great kid, she loves the game, she wants to compete, she wants to win, and if you get her in an environment where she’s surrounded by genuine people who allow her to be her…she’s going to be a huge asset.”

Hillsman accepted her recommendation. When Colome announced her transfer to Syracuse on May 6, 2019, SU’s starting point guard Kiara Lewis did what she always does with transfers: Googled her statistics. She found a dynamic guard who led Rhode Island in scoring in her final season in 2018 with 14.1 points per game.

“I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be a good transfer,’” Lewis said.

Colome scored from everywhere on the court: catch-and-shoot threes, pull-ups from the elbow, hesitation drives into floaters in the paint. On defense, the 5-foot-7 guard can stay in front of opposing ball-handlers 90 feet from the hoop, Jorgensen said. But that was in the Atlantic-10. This is the ACC, and Colome knows she’ll have to transition into a new role in a new system for a faster game.

To prepare, Colome worked with her longtime trainer TJ Thompson over the summer. Thompson specializes in individual skill development, but they also worked on conditioning. Monday through Friday, they completed workouts so intense, she said some nearly brought her to tears.

Thompson, whom Colome considers a mentor, kept stressing accountability. A “locked in and focused” Colome only missed one training session in the best summer she’s ever had, Thompson said.

“I always knew she could play at that level,” Thompson said. “I knew the thing that would hold her back wasn’t anything to do with basketball or skill level, it would be more so the off the court stuff as in accountability and discipline.”

During conditioning runs at SU, Colome consistently finishes in second place — behind only former track runner Lauren Fitzmaurice. She always gets to practice early, studies plays with her teammates and watches film on her iPad. Though she said she still has silly moments, she’s traded off-court distractions for naps. Without star point guard Tiana Mangakahia, the 2019 season may hinge on the Lewis-Colome backcourt — Lewis being an all-around playmaker and Colome a pure scorer.

“Everyone wants to see me succeed,” Colome said of SU. “I’d say it’s like a winning culture. And I’ve never been around a winning culture before.”

In August, Colome reunited with La-Force at her former coach’s wedding. In front of over a hundred people, Colome made a speech about their “amazing journey” together.

Without La-Force, Colome may never have blossomed into a go-to scorer. She might’ve not made it through three seasons at URI, might’ve not had the chance to transfer to Syracuse for one final year of college basketball. Without La-Force, she might not be the person she’s trying to become.

“I want to thank you for allowing me to have the opportunity to play basketball,” Colome said in the speech. “You took me in when I was struggling at my first school, and the fact that I can say that you are the reason why I am so much more mature and a grown woman now. And now I’m going to Syracuse because of you, and it’s honestly a blessing.”

Banner photo by Corey Henry | Photo Editor