Myah Pace: A Letter to the 2019-20 Season ...

The USD women’s basketball team had a wonderful 2019-20 season, even though it was cut short by the NCAA’s decision to cancel all postseason basketball tournaments due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in March. Subsequently, the NCAA cancelled all spring sports seasons, too. But the women’s basketball rebounded from an injury-plagued 2018-19 season to finish 13-5 in West Coast Conference play, 20-11 overall and reach the WCC Tournament Championship game against Portland, losing 64-63 in overtime. They were slated for postseason tournament play. Recently, USD Athletics has posted reflections from its student-athletes and coaches who’ve experienced an unprecedented situation due to the pandemic. Here is basketball's junior guard Myah Pace, the team’s leading scorer (11.9 points per game) and leader in steals (92), who appeared in all 31 games. Pace was an All-WCC first team selection this past season.

Dear 2019-2020 season, 
 
This year, you started fast and ended abruptly. It's hard to shy away from focusing on the time I didn't get to spend with you, knowing it would have been our program's first postseason in a few years and the last run with our seniors. I hope it's okay that I acknowledge that the way you were taken away from us this year, sucked, big-time.

However, what was taken away from us at the end of our season pales in comparison to what you gave us all year long. You gave us a comeback story like no other. From last place in the West Coast Conference during the 2018-2019 season to a regular-season, second-place finish in conference this season (By the way, next year we're coming for first).

For me personally, you gave me a platform to play and compete again. It’s what I love to do and what I have been doing since I was five years old. I missed you really bad during the 2018-2019 season, so this season was everything I could have asked for and more.

You gave me the best teammates. Teammates I'm willing to go to war for every time we step on the court. Teammates that believe in me, as much as we believe in our common goal to win and compete at the highest level. Teammates that laugh at my jokes (sometimes) and make fun of my corniness all the other times. You surrounded me with the most amazing people that know how to get me through the hardest days and make the great days and great moments even happier, funnier and sweeter. Thank you for giving me a sisterhood, I will never take it for granted.

Thank you for the best memories on and off the court, like the day we won the game to hold second place in conference. Or our senior night game, where we celebrated some of the best senior leaders I've ever had and we won their last game in the JCP. I’ll remember the long bus rides to LA, the dance parties in the locker room, the post-game celebrations, and everything else in between. You gave me enough of these memories to fill a thousand scrapbooks and that's what I am most grateful for.

Lastly, despite the bitter end to our season, I want to thank you once more, for leaving me hungry and determined. Hungry enough to spend hours organizing the garage so it can become my new lifting and training facility while I wait for things to transition back to normal. Hungry enough to turn the driveway into my gym until I can get back to the JCP and get shots up with my teammates and coaches. Hungry enough to be anxiously ready to start a new journey all over again, grateful for what you taught me, grateful for the amazing people and experiences you brought into my life, and grateful for a chance to do it all over again my senior year; but this time with even bigger goals.

Dear everyone that was a part of our 2019-2020 season — fans, coaches, teammates, training staff, facilities staff, and everyone else that impacted any aspect of our journey — I love you guys and I thank you. Let’s run it back one more time in Fall 2020! #ladyT's

— Myah Pace