By Bailey White
If you’d asked her four years ago, Hayley Doney wouldn’t have been able to say for sure that playing basketball for the Tommies was something she wanted to do.
But after winning the ACAA championship in her fourth and final season with the Tommies, Doney was named STU’s Athlete of the Month for March – it’s recognition that’s been a long time coming.
“It feels great. We have such a great team… they make me the player I am,” said Doney.
She’s been captain of that team for two years and said the team’s been working up to this championship for a long time.
“We saved the best for the end. We won our league. I was in the finals two years prior to that and couldn’t pull off a win,” she said. “So beating Mount St. Vincent in the final was definitely wonderful.”
Mount St. Vincent was STU’s biggest rival this year, handing the Tommies their only loss of the year.
For her, defeating them in the ACAA final was as memorable as it gets.
“I just remember looking at my teammate Pam [Carvell] and just crying,” she said. “It was so exciting. I’d really never won a championship, ever. It just felt so good that the work we put in for these four years had finally paid off. It was a great way to end my career.”
In September, Doney hopes to attend Atlantic Baptist University and earn her education degree.
And while she’s happy with her basketball career, Doney said it’s the friendships she’s made that will stick with her.
“The girls are so special. I’ve played with a lot of the same girls…I’ve loved my time here.”
