Whatever Reana Mohamed does is about family.
The Mary Louis senior saw her college scholarship search as not just quest to fulfill a dream of her own and validation of her hard work. She saw it as a way to say thank you her parents and honor her grandmothers, who have always supported and encouraged her.
“I just really wanted to take a lot of stress off my parent’s shoulders,” Mohamed said. “All these years they have been taking me to this game, taking me here and there traveling with me all over the place. I just wanted to make sure in the end my hard work paid off and continued to pay off, to show them that I appreciated everything that they have done for me.”
She found a similar atmosphere at George Mason to the one she is used to at the Jamaica Estates school and her Positive Direction travel team. The CAA club has been watching Mohamed play since she was in eighth grade, was loyal and never pressured her. She reaffirmed her feelings about the school this past weekend on a visit and verbally committed there Monday. She chose the Patriots over Bucknell, Stony Brook and Fairleigh Dickinson.
“They are very family-oriented,” Mohamed said. “They really do a lot of things together.”
The 5-foot-9 wing, who has played on the varsity since her freshman year, has drawn strength from her family in good times and bad. Her grandmother on her mom’s side, Georgina Weeks, died during her junior season and it hit Mohamed hard. A day after she committed to George Mason her other grandmother, Elsa Arjoon, fell ill and was taken to hospital.
“Losing my grandmother on my other side last year, I just kind of used that for just more fuel to just get me to play and leave everything on the court,” Mohamed said. “By this happening again it’s just something that I’m going to use to get it all out on the court.”
She said Weeks used to tell her she would be successful in any anything she did and Arjoon encourages her by saying everything she touched would turn to gold. They couldn’t have been more right.
Mohamed has transformed herself into a complete player and one of the best in New York City. With her on the floor, Mary Louis has reached three straight CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens finals and upset rival Christ the King for the first time in school history last year. She averaged 15 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists as a junior.
“Watching her at age 6, I knew she was going to be special, but to watch her since the eighth grade until now really showed how an athlete can improve all aspects of their game if they want to,” Positive Direction and TMLA assistant coach JoAnn Arbitello said.
Mohamed is a fearless and ultra-athletic guard who can get into the lane at will with the strength to finish. Her jump shot has improved exponentially each season. She hit five 3-pointers in a Rose Classic game against Exodus NYC this fall.
“It started off that she was just athletic and she can get up and down the court,” Mary Louis coach Joseph Lewinger said. “Then it turned into her sophomore year she can get to the basket. Last year she added the pullup jump shot. This year she added the catch and shoot.”
Mohamed will eventually join coach Jeri Porter and a George Mason team that plays a comfortable up-tempo style. The Patriots went 13-17 last season and 7-11 in the CAA. Mohamed wants to study criminology and forensics, something George Mason is known for because of its proximity to Washington, D.C.
She could eventually be reunited with former Mary Louis and Positive Direction star Karin Robinson, who committed to the school last year, but is at Coffeyville Community College working on her academics in hope of eventually joined the Patriots. Mohamed likened the two joining forces again to the Miami Heat in search of a title
“Hopefully we can do that better than the Heat team,” she joked. “That’s probably what we have in the back of our minds.”
Family, however, is always front and center for Mohamed. The closeness of George Mason will allow her to share in her college experience with her soon-to-be second family of teammates. Without her parents and the support and strength of her grandmothers, she might not be where she is today.
“The both of them were supportive of me,” Mohamed said. “Everything I do, I’m doing for my family.”