Priscilla Williams: Professional Basketball Player

For Priscilla Williams, the world of sports was a space she was immersed in since a very young age. From both of her parent playing at the collegiate level to her siblings embarking on athletic journeys of their own, Priscilla remembers learning about and witnessing the endless opportunities that sport could bring growing up. Motivated by it all, it was in the seventh grade where she decided go all in on her choice of sport: basketball. It was up from there. Committed to one day playing professionally, Priscilla worked day in and day out on building that foundation to one day turn her dreams to reality. She was on a mission. During her time in high school, Priscilla earned an array of accolades including a McDonald’s All-American honor and Jordan Brand

Order Your Print Copies Here

Classic roster selection—recognitions which not only highlighted her incredible talents on the court, but also served as personal reminders that she was on the right track. Upon graduating from high school, Priscilla took that next step in her career and embarked on her collegiate journey at Syracuse University. It wasn't all smooth sailing though. Towards the end of her freshman season—during the ACC Tournament—, Priscilla suffered a head injury that placed her future in the game in limbo. "I just remember it happening and me being in the hospital and thinking like, “Oh my goodness, it's the end of the world. Basketball is my life. What is gonna happen?”," she shares. It was in this experience that Priscilla leaned on her faith more than ever and discovered the importance of maintaining a positive mental outlook even in the most uncertain situations.

From there, she transferred to the University of South Florida—where she played for a season—before attending the University of Oregon and finishing her collegiate career at Jacksonville University. When reflecting on it all, it is her strength, resilience, and passion that rise above the ups and downs experienced along the way. "I have learned that you have to literally zone everything out and just be unapologetically you. If you care too much (about) what people think, you'll end up transforming yourself and getting out of rhythm. You'll be out of your flow and give somebody else that power to let you not be who you are," she states. As Priscilla begins this next chapter of her basketball career, she is set to join the 3x3 Basketball Association (3XBA)—the premier professional women’s FIBA 3x3 tour and youth development pipeline in the United States. Along with this, she looks forward to securing opportunities to play overseas and continue working towards her goal of playing in the WNBA. Incredible!

Take us all the way back! What’s your earliest memory with sports and when did you start playing basketball?

Yeah! Basketball kind of ran in the family. It was destined in a sense I’d say (*laughs*). My mom had us in all types of sports. We probably played every sport. We did swimming, soccer, (etc). I also played the violin, the guitar, the flute—anything and everything. My mother had us active for sure. I started basketball at a young age and then I kind of really took it seriously when my dad told me that you could go to school for free. He's like, “Yeah! You can get it all paid for.” Of course, growing up, you learn that you want to stay out of debt and you want to stay out of loans. So knowing we had the opportunity to do that, I kind of really capitalized on it and took it seriously in seventh grade. Because of my height—I'm 6'3”—, people automatically think I am a post. When I played in basketball programs, they were just like, “Oh, you're a post.” I remember I had a coach from Houston—my seventh grade AAU coach—, Coach Leary, and he literally told me: “You know you can be a guard and you can shoot threes?” I was like, “What?! Outside the paint? Oh my goodness, this is great” (*laughs*). I trained with him and then I ended up getting my first offer in eighth grade from the University of Houston. From there, it kind of took off. I ended up being a McDonald's All-American and all that. I started my career off at Syracuse with Coach Q—Quentin Hillsman—, and then I got severely injured. After my first year, I suffered a concussion where I came off the court into the ER so it was really bad. I ended up trying to shake back from that, so my second year at Syracuse I had to redshirt.

Then, all these coaching changes happened. Mind you, (all of this) was during COVID so it was a lot. We were freshmen in college, the whole COVID time period was just different, everything was shut down, we were playing with masks, we (were) practicing in masks (while also) distancing, and all that. I ended up telling my coach—Coach Felisha (Legette-Jack) who is the head coach now at Syracuse—: “Oh, I think I'm going to be in the portal.” Then, that's when I ended up going to USF (University of South Florida) with Coach Jose. That was cool. That was a good experience until I got hurt halfway through. I had torn ligaments in my ankle and that was kind of frustrating because it was a little setback again. I was probably out for almost half the season; so then trying to come back halfway through the season (was hard). If you're a basketball player, you know that midway through the season, pretty much lineups are set. You know, you're in the flow and conference play is the most important time of the year. I ended up leaving there and went to Oregon with Coach Kelly (Graves). That was a different experience. It was fun. I was like, “Oh my goodness, it's Nike Town.” It was a fun environment with fun people. Since that would have been my third year, I had to try to get a waiver form signed and that was a whole process. Something ended up happening (there) to where halfway through the season I ended up playing. But then again, it was kind of like the correlation with USF, halfway through and with how our season was going, it was really hard. At the end of the year, when we had our meetings, eight of us ended up leaving. Also during that time, my dad had a stroke when I got off the plane and had gotten to Oregon. That was pretty rough to handle. Mind you, my dad has been my trainer, the reason why I am the basketball player I am, everything. You know, dealing with that was just mentally hard. Add a losing season and then me not playing, it just got to a point (where) I was trying to get away and trying to find my identity. That was a very hard time. I ended up leaving (Oregon) and I was kind of hopeless after I was in the transfer portal again because it was my third time. Coach Q was helping me look for schools and (connect with) people he knew. At this time, he wasn't at Syracuse no more. He was overseas coaching. He told me about Coach Special at Jacksonville and when I had talked to her, she gave me a lifeline for basically my last go-around. I spent my last two years there and I wouldn't have wanted to end my college career any other way. I gained my confidence back.

My first year playing was probably my first year actually playing a full season in like three years. So of course I had a little doubt going into it, but just trying to find myself again in the game and find a love for the game again (was key). Then, I decided to go back for this past season and it was the best decision I probably ever made. I literally went out on a bang. I was Player of the Year, we won the conference, we went to March Madness. That group was just a really special group.

Let’s talk about your time in high school. You earned an array of accolades including a McDonald's All-American honor and a Jordan Brand Classic selection. As you look back on that time, what did earning those honors mean to you?

They meant a lot, just seeing all the hard work (pay off). That’s something I've always kind of dreamed about and always said it was one of my goals that I wanted to accomplish. It's funny how life (works) because you always have your life planned out and have it set in stone of what you are going to do. I'm really big on my faith and I just think God works beautifully. He's worked beautifully in my life. (With) my college career, (for instance), I wouldn't be the person I am if I didn't have to go through the ups and downs and learn to keep faith. Even with being all that in high school, in my college career, I didn't get to stay at a P5 school the whole time. Everything I thought would be the plan, it wasn’t my plan. I really wouldn't want it any other way (though). Even now, I didn't get drafted but it's not the end of the world. I'm still planning on going overseas and being in the W from there—my path just went a little different. I think God has taught me to stay down, stay focused, and be grounded in my faith. My faith has definitely carried me through my career.

Take us through that transition from high school to college. What were some challenges that you faced early on and how did you navigate through those?

Want to read more?

Subscribe to theballersmagazine.com to keep reading this exclusive post.

Subscribe Now