By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

As unpredictable as this season has been, Riley Casey is enjoying whatever she can get. It's been three years since she played a full basketball season. Everything since has been constant interruptions.
 
In 2019-20, her junior season at Columbia, Casey played six games before being shut down with an injury. Then came the pandemic, which led to the cancelation of the Ivy League's entire 2020-21 season.

When Casey took the floor on Nov. 11 for William & Mary's season opener at Coppin State, it was her first game in 667 days. She had eight points in a loss, but at least she was back.

"Oh my gosh, I was so eager to play," said Casey, who is in William & Marys' MBA program and has playing eligibility through the 2022-23 season. "It felt like the longest time from the COVID (season) and the year off that I had as a junior.

"I was very eager, very excited. So was the whole team here because they didn't play a full season last year. There's been a lot of excitement and eagerness on the team."

In the fourth game of the season against George Mason, Casey was the difference in a win. She scored half of her 20 points in overtime — in fact, she personally outscored the Patriots 10-5. Four days later, she had 16 points in a win at Maryland Eastern Shore.

Casey missed the next five games, four of which W&M lost, with an injury. She came back against Norfolk State and, although not 100 percent, made the clinching free throws in a 55-50 win. In last week's loss at Towson, she had 11 points and six assists.

For the season, Casey is W&M's second-leading scorer at 11.5 points a game. She is second to backcourt mate Sydney Wagner in minutes (33.1 per game) and 3-pointers (18).

"She's definitely been a glue to our team, and we've missed her severely in those games she couldn't play," W&M coach Ed Swanson said. "She's added a sense of steadiness. She plays at both ends of the court.

"She can score, and we missed that while she was out. She's been a great fit for us in all facets in what we look for as a player."

Casey grew up in a basketball family. Her father, Sean, was a four-year starter at Hobart College. Her mother, Jill, was a three-year starter at William Smith College and is the program's fourth all-time leading scorer.

With Jill as his assistant, Sean went on to coach the girls' basketball team at The Peddie School in New Jersey for 17 seasons. He was named the 2010 Naismith National High School Coach of the Year.

Riley's older sister, Taylor, played at Washington & Lee and is the seventh all-time leading scorer. Her younger brother, Sean, played basketball in high school and is the starting quarterback at the University of Rochester (N.Y.).

And there's youngest brother RJ, a high school senior who has committed to play basketball at Connecticut College.

"I grew up with a bunch of siblings, and we still play family games of basketball when we go home," Casey said. "I'm pretty competitive."

Casey was born in New Jersey and lived in Georgia, but Tennessee has been home since the family moved there in 2014. She was team captain at Franklin Road Academy in Nashville from her sophomore year on. (Yes, she likes country music).

From there, Casey went to Columbia University in New York City. Quite a change of pace from her home in Brentwood, Tennessee (population: 45,373).

"A big challenge," Casey said. "But the energy of the city and everything is open all the time — that's what appealed to me.

"You could have that campus feeling while also having the perks of being in New York. And the academics of Columbia … I was like, 'Wow, I could go to a school like Columbia?' I had to try."

A starter from day one, Casey averaged 10.2 points a game as a freshman and 12.4 as a sophomore. What should have been a breakout season in 2019-20 lasted six games before an injury ended her season on Jan. 4.

Two months later, COVID-19 took over. The Ivy League was the first conference to call off its tournaments, and it was first to cancel the entire 2020-21 season. Casey stayed at Columbia and earned her degree in economics.

Although she graduated, Casey still had two years of eligibility remaining. One was compensation for the 2019-20 season, of which she missed all but six games with an injury. The other was for 2020-21, which the NCAA essentially declared a mulligan because of the ongoing pandemic.

The problem was, Ivy League schools do not allow graduate students to compete. Not ready to hang up the high tops, Casey decided to transfer.

"I wasn't done playing basketball, and I wasn't ready to start my life in the real world with a real job," Casey said. "So I went into the portal and got talking to Coach Swanson. I was really excited about the opportunity here.

Swanson brought in another grad transfer from the Ivy League: Kate Sramac from Cornell. Although they were in the same class and played in the same conference, they had never officially met until coming to W&M.

"We had no connections," Casey said. "I remember about a month after I committed, Coach Mary (Gleason) gave us each other's phone numbers — 'by the way, your old rival is coming, too.' We had no idea of what to expect from each other, but we've gotten a long great."