Every day last summer, Cicely Oaks ran with a clear purpose of contributing to the Oregon women’s basketball team.
Getting to this point, where Oaks enjoyed a career-high 15 points against Drake on Nov. 28, required patience through two years of little playing time and a turbulent high school career.
The attention Oaks has enjoyed with her breakthrough this season is nice, but something she says she is happy to bypass for team success.
The same went for high school.
“She was a star who enjoyed the spotlight, but didn’t crave it,” her high school coach Margaret Calvert said.
That is why now, with the junior Oaks playing regularly, she deflects attention to senior guards Chelsea Wagner and Brandi Davis.
Oaks’ play, though, has gotten her noticed with 6.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. She is second on Oregon (5-1), shooting 54.5 percent from the field and 92.9 from the free throw line.
A prolific scorer in high school, Oaks provides points and all the dirty work on the basketball court: Diving for loose balls, making steals and creating easy baskets for teammates.
Against Drake, Oaks stole the ball under the hoop and fed center Gabrielle Richards for a layup. On another possession, she made a wide open three-pointer on the right wing. Late in the game, Oaks whipped a pass to Kristen Forristall for an open layup.
Oaks also showed she can drive to the hoop and draw fouls with 10 made free throws.
Her strong performance followed an eight point and five rebound showing against a scrappy Arkansas team.
“We play off her energy,” Oregon forward Jessie Shetters said. “She just loves the game and loves to get out there and get after it.”
Oaks can also be a lockdown defender with a long wingspan and lateral quickness, Oregon coach Bev Smith said.
The only thing holding her back was conditioning, which Smith said Oaks fixed with her summer work.
Oaks’ success comes after two seasons of work and her high school career, where success mixed with strife.
Calvert became Grant High’s head coach when Oaks joined varsity as a freshman. In her first two seasons, Oaks helped Grant reach the state tournament twice.
Her junior year came and with it came issues off the court. Oaks struggled with personal problems that extended onto the court. Calvert reportedly suspended Oaks for a pair of games in December and was later dismissed from the team.
Smith attended a game to scout Oaks and realized the 5-foot-7 guard wasn’t there. Calvert told Smith that Oaks was talented and a good student but wasn’t acting like it.
After the first couple games off, Oaks followed the team as she attended games and maintained relationships.
“What she went through in high school was hard and we shared a lot of that,” Calvert said.
Oaks adjusted. She became more positive and outgoing. Oaks maintained relationships with teammates, which helped ease her return as a senior. Calvert supported her the entire time, Oaks said, focusing on helping Oaks get a college education if basketball didn’t work out.
“It was a growth year,” Oaks’ mom Beryl McNair said. “I appreciate the way she came through it.”
Colleges cooled on Oaks during her junior year absence. When she returned as a senior, Calvert said she was confident in Oaks and interest returned with numerous schools including Washington State, UTEP and San Francisco taking notice. Oregon remained supportive and stood by her, Oaks said.
“(Smith) asked me why she should consider bringing me here, and I just told her it was a good learning experience and something like that would never happen again,” Oaks said.
Smith received numerous letters of support from Grant and the surrounding community.
Even though they are now apart, the bond Calvert and Oaks created continues as they talk regularly on everything from basketball to living in Eugene.
“I feel like she cared about me more as a person than a basketball player,” Oaks said.
Next Saturday, Calvert and players on the Grant basketball team will visit the Rose Garden to see Oaks and Oregon play against Prairie View A&M. McNair and family and friends will be there as well. Saturday’s game is Oregon’s first in a month-long road trip which includes games at UCLA and USC before returning to McArthur Court on Jan. 5 to play California.
With Oaks, it’s important to get to know her and get past her sometimes tough exterior, Calvert says. Teammate Shetters played against Oaks with Wilson High. Both said they didn’t like the other as competitors in high school, whereas now the two are best friends.
“We were both – just judging each other from what we saw, and we didn’t really dig in any deeper than that,” Oaks said.
Relationships developed between Oaks and Shetters and other teammates during stays in residence halls as freshmen. Smith gained tips from Calvert on how to get to know Oaks, how to speak to her and get the most out of the Portland native.
“We both had to take a step in the right direction and come towards each other,” Smith said.
Smith and Oaks sat down before the season and discussed expectations. The mutual understanding has helped Oregon and Oaks to a successful early season start.
When Calvert and Grant players see Oaks play, they see a role model and what is possible with work, Calvert said.
“She shies away from really saying I’m going to motivate other people – tries to downplay it,” Calvert said. “(But) she offers a very concrete example of what’s possible.”
Personally, college has provided Oaks with opportunity, McNair said.
“If nothing else she does in this life, God has given her a wonderful gift – of a degree to carry her on,” McNair said.
