[caption id="attachment_21470" align="alignright" width="194"] A mid-season addition to the SUNY Poly women's basketball team, Stevie Ray has helped the Wildcats reach the NCAA Division III Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Kelley Waskiewicz / SUNY Poly Athletics)[/caption]

It took a while, but Jessica Skelton finally got what she wanted. Or, rather, whom she wanted.

The SUNY Poly women’s basketball coach has had her eye on Stevie Ray since Ray was at Fabius-Pompey High School. Skelton lost out on the Ray lottery twice: Once to Jason Carpenter and Mohawk Valley Community College, and then again to Division II Clarion University.

Ray’s stay at Clarion didn’t last very long.

One semester was all she needed to know that she would be happiest back in Central New York.

“I liked everyone at Clarion, but I didn’t have the support system of my family and friends there,” Ray said. “I guess I’m a little more of a homebody than I thought I was.

“It’s really difficult to play when you’re unhappy.”

Ray is back. She is enrolled as a junior at SUNY Poly. And she is happy.

Good news, all around, for Skelton and the Wildcats, who already were having a good season. The addition of Ray (who had to sit until Jan. 13 while her transfer was processed), helped push the team to a NEAC championship and its first NCAA Tournament appearance.

Deep postseason runs are nothing new to Ray.

In four years at Fabius-Pompey, her Falcons made two Section III championship games, winning one of them. At MVCC, she twice helped lead the Hawks to the NJCAA national tournament (they were runners-up the first time, and they finished third last season).

Now, with yet another winning team, she is back on a national stage. And just to be here is nice, but it isn’t good enough. Not for her.

“I’m hungry,” she said. “I’ve wanted a ring for a long time.”

For a team with only five losses, it can be difficult to chart ups and downs. But it can’t be overlooked that the Wildcats have just one loss in 19 games since Ray’s arrival.

It’s true that no one person makes all the difference, especially on this team. Just ask one of them (Ray, in particular), and they quickly will deflect credit to someone else.

But it’s a safe bet that the team wouldn’t be playing this weekend if not for Ray.

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