Athletic guard Danielle Pearson of Jefferson soars over the defense. (Damion Reid)
Danielle Pearson sees something familiar in Providence. She sees a little bit of Thomas Jefferson in the Big East program.
When Pearson and Alicia Cropper enrolled at Jefferson three years ago, the Orange Wave girls basketball team had not accomplished much. They were in their first season in the ‘A’ league and nowhere near a PSAL powerhouse.
The pair led Jefferson to the Class A title as freshmen and the Orange Wave have been to the Class AA semifinals the last two years.
“It’s nice to say we made that,” Pearson said.
She and Cropper are looking to do the same thing at Providence, where the Brooklyn natives committed Monday.
The Friars, coached by Brooklyn native Philip Seymore, won just 10 games last year and are one of the more unheralded teams in the Big East, the country’s top conference.
“Most people want to go to a team that’s already winning,” said Pearson, a 5-foot-8 shooting guard who averaged 10.4 points per game last year. “We wanted to go to a school where we can kind of win it on our own.”
Cropper, the top-ranked senior in New York City who averaged 18.5 points per game in 2008-09, chose Providence over Syracuse and Miami. Pearson was also being recruited by Northeastern, Virginia Commonwealth, Radford and IUPUI. Marshall wanted the two together, Pearson said.
“Wow, we finally get to do what we wanted to do,” Cropper told Pearson when they both agreed on Providence. “During the recruiting process, it was looking like we weren’t going to get to play together.”
Cropper and Pearson met when they played against each other in seventh grade. They became fast friends and decided to attend Jefferson together. They have been inseparable ever since, almost like sisters.
“We’re similar,” Cropper said. “We do a lot of things the same. If I’m thinking something, she’ll say it. It’s been like that since Day One. It’s like some twin stuff.”
Cropper is most comfortable on the court with Pearson by her side and vice versa. They’re like the Brooklyn girls basketball version of Batman and Robin. For that reason, going to college together was also a goal.
“That was our plan,” Pearson said.
She said the relatively small size of Providence helped in making the decision. Pearson cited the school’s low student-to-teacher ratio and its strong academics as priorities.
“At other places, I would just be another kid,” Pearson said.
Now, as a unit, they can be program changers.
“I want to make a difference in the program,” Cropper said. “People were saying, ‘Why do you want to go to Providence? They’re at the bottom.’ That’s what people were saying about Jefferson, too.”
And we know how that turned out.