By Stephen Levitt ‘22, Sports Editor

Jocelyn Willoughby will go down in history as one of the most successful athletes, on and off the court, to attend Newark Academy. During her time at Newark Academy, Willoughby was named 2016 Gatorade New Jersey Girls Basketball Player of the year, named to the First All-State and All-County teams twice, and named to the 2016 MaxPreps All-American Fourth Team. In her sophomore year Willoughby became the first female basketball player at Newark Academy to score 1,000 career points, while helping lead Newark Academy to two-straight state titles. In her breakout senior year, Willoughby averaged 21.9 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.1 steals per game. Recruited to University of Virginia, Willoughby certainly lived up to her 5-star rating as she helped lead the Cavaliers to an NCAA tournament appearance and 64 career wins. In addition to team success, Willoughby racked up numerous individual awards including being named to the 2016-2017 All ACC freshman team, the 2019-2020 all ACC team, and being named a 2019-2020 regional finalist for WBCA All-American team. Although Willoughby experienced a great amount of success on the court, her success off the court may have been even more impressive.

At the University of Virginia, Willoughby was honored for her strong work off the courts and in the classrooms. Willoughby was named to the All ACC Academic Team 4 times, the first time any player within the program had been a 4-time honoree. In her senior year, Willoughby was the 2019-2020 Kay Yow Award winner, which honors the ACC Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and was named to the 2019-2020 CoSIDA Academic All American third team. Reflecting on what led to this academic success, Willoughby said, “Newark Academy allowed me to have a fairly smooth transition when coming to college, and my experience there set me up to have success at UVA. Given the academic nature of Newark Academy, it clearly instilled the reading, writing, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills that are important for college.” Willoughby continued to credit Newark Academy for her academic success, explaining her ability to balance academics and college basketball: “As you can imagine, in order to be a high-performing, student-athlete at the college level (someone essentially taking on two full-time jobs), the importance of discipline and time management cannot be emphasized enough. But that started at Newark Academy.”

On April 17th, 2020, Jocelyn Willoughby proved she was worth the hype when she was selected 10th overall by the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA draft and was later traded to the New York Liberty. Willoughby’s success carried over from college as she quickly made her presence felt in the 2020 WNBA season. Shooting 40.5% from 3-point range and averaging 5.8 points per game, Willoughby played a major role in New York’s success. Willoughby’s 2020 season was highlighted by her dominant performance in which she scored a season high of 21 points in an effort to lead her team back against the Los Angeles Sparks. Similar to college, Willoughby has continued to thrive off the courts, as she continues to inspire, teach, and learn through actions like her book club, “Read What You Sow with Jocelyn Willoughby,” in which she aims to explore and address social justice issues.