College basketball player Baileigh Sinaman-Daniels made history earlier this season when she became the first player with one arm to score in a NCAA Division III women's game.
When Baileigh made her history-making shot, her coach was the first one to realize what a special moment it was for Baileigh, and he immediately called a timeout so that her teammates could congratulate her.
Baileigh said of the moment,
The entire team was filled with joy. Mainly just because they have seen me overcome so many things throughout this season, and for it to finally pay off in that moment, in that game, it was a very big deal for everybody across the board. They were all screaming. They were all very happy. Everybody came to hug me.
The 22-year-old Lesley University player wasn't sure she would even make it onto a college team after she was cut during her senior year of high school, after 3 years on the team.
Baileigh told CNN,
In that moment, I felt like I had lost a piece of myself because basketball was the only thing that really made me feel normal. Because when I'm on the court and I have the ball, nobody's going to take it easy on me because they want to win the game just as bad as we do. So those moments kind of felt like they were being taken away from me, and I had no sense of normalcy.
But Baileigh wasn't ready to give up, and she instead set her sights on playing for a college team. Those ambitions landed her first at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, where she spent two years before she was recruited to Lesley in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Her coach at Lesley, Martin Rather, said,
Recruiting Baileigh, it wasn't any different than recruiting any other player that you want out of the transfer portal. This is someone who had played multiple seasons at the same level that we've been at. At the end of the day, my criteria was, is and will be, ‘Can this person help us get to the next level?' And if you look at it, that's exactly what this entire team did this year.
With Baileigh on the team this season, the Lesley women's squad won 11 games after winning only one last year.
And while that first score made history for both Baileigh and Division III basketball, it wasn't the only goal for her this season.
The season for Lesley has now come to a close, but Baileigh plans to be back next year and until then she can rest assured that her ultimate goal for this year was accomplished.
I feel like I have done what I wanted to do when I came out here to play basketball. Even if it was one kid who saw me and thought to themselves, you know, ‘If she's doing it, why can't I? would love to be a role model for kids who feel like they don't have a place in this world or feel like they're so out of place - because I once felt like that as well.
Best of luck, Baileigh!
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
