City of Basketball Love

By Jeff Griffith (@hooplove215)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here.)

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Anajah Brown had a bad taste in her mouth coming out of the 2021-22 season. 

Then a rising sophomore at Siena women’s basketball, Brown had just completed a postseason meeting with her coaches. She was fresh off a season in which she’d averaged just 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds, and seen the floor for fewer than 10 minutes per game.

But for the first-year coaching staff led by head coach Jim Jabir, it went deeper than that. They weren’t all too pleased with her work ethic.

What Brown’s coaches saw she credited largely to her own frustrations with herself.

“When I would get frustrated, I would shut down,” she said. “I always say that I’m my biggest adversary, and I would get so tough on myself that if they would try to tell me something, I would look so upset. … I wasn’t being receptive to things.”

The message was clear.

“They basically were saying, ‘Maybe this isn’t the place for you if you don’t work hard enough,’” the Baldwin School alumna said.

That summer, the 6-foot-1 forward made a point to get in the gym, working on a variety of skills that needed further attention — particularly becoming a more effective rebounder and shooter. The effort was noticed, and she was named team captain before her sophomore season.

“After leaving that meeting, that summer, I came back and I worked so hard,” Brown said. “The hardest I’ve worked in my entire life. I got so much better. 

“I think it was more of a confidence thing. They saw that I’m actually a smart basketball player and I can be vocal. I just felt more confident.”

Brown didn’t waste any time to show off her newfound confidence, either. She posted double-digit scoring numbers in five of her first six and 10 of her first 13 games, and ripped off a streak of 17 consecutive games shooting 50% or better from the field after going 3 for 10 in the season opener. 

Brown started in 29 of 30 games last season and averaged nearly a double-double, putting up 11.3 points and 8.1 rebounds in 27.7 minutes per game. She tallied 41 blocks and 37 steals. Brown also improved her shooting efficiency from a 39% freshman mark up to 56% as a sophomore.

Now as an established leader for Siena, Brown is one of several upperclassmen tasked with instilling key principles of the program in younger members of the Saints’ roster, which features five true freshmen. 

“I still work as hard, but now the next step is just trying to get my younger teammates used to the Siena culture — help them, as much as possible, to understand our system and try to be a person who’s there for them,” she said. “I’m still working as hard and leading by example, but also being a person they can lean on.” 

Brown and company have plenty of motivation driving them. Siena’s 2022-23 campaign finished in heartbreaking fashion.

The Saints, who went 19-13 on the year with a 12-8 conference mark and earned the MAAC Tournament’s No. 4 seed, watched a 15-point, second-half lead disappear in the semifinal against top seed and eventual champion Iona. 

Brown led the way in that game with 20 points, 12 boards and four steals — arguably her career’s best statistical output to date — but it wasn’t enough to complete an upset bid of the Gaels. 

The final score — 67-66 — is used as a daily reminder in Siena practices and meetings. According to Brown, a QR code on the inside of the players’ playbooks, when scanned, opens up that score. 

“Coach brings it up almost every practice,” Brown said. “‘This is why we lost by one point.’ Just using that as a constant reminder of the things that we could have done better. We have so much drive and passion. We just want to win.”

For Brown, though, bouncing back from a heartbreaking season-ending loss wouldn’t be the first time she turned a negative experience into a positive motivator. 

“I wish it didn’t have to get to the point where I felt terrible leaving that meeting in order for me to take a step up, but ultimately it feels great now,” she said. “The trust that my coaches have in me, and my ability to just have open conversations with them … it just feels so good.”