AMHERST, N.Y. — Chellia Watson is one of the nation's top scorers in women's basketball. The Bulls' fifth year guard has even broken numerous school records in her short time so far at the University at Buffalo.
Those are just two things that she's accomplished that have defined her college basketball career, but the real question remains: Who is Chellia Watson off the court?
“I'm really goofy," Watson said. "I like to have fun with my friends. I like shopping a lot. I’m a sneakerhead, and I really, really love music.”
However, above all and at the core of her life and basketball career is her commitment to family.
“It’s so hard for me to talk about my mom without getting emotional because it just gets like that with me," Watson said. "It’s not the same when it's other people, and it's not your family being there for you, texting you everyday, checking up on you, like, just genuine love.”
That level of loyalty has now been replicated through her coaches and teammates at UB as Watson decided to return to the Bulls for her fifth and final year of eligibility.
“She’s one in a million," UB women's basketball coach Becky Burke said. "Name somebody that is not chasing a six-figure check, or to go sit in a locker room that's a little fancier than ours. She truly is a living proof of that. She could have gone anywhere she wanted.”
Watson added: “I’ve never played two years in a row. My freshman year at Cinci I played and then I sat out that next year and then at Upstate when I transferred I sat out so I haven't had two full strong years so I got the chance to do that now.”
Burke said, “She has deeper values, and deeper relationships, and a deeper purpose, and that's to win a MAC championship here and be around the people that she loves.”
In searching for stability in Buffalo the last two years, Watson has not only found success on the court, but in the relationships she’s built along the way.
“You're never going to find a superstar that has the humility and kindness and grace and just lives her life the way that Chellia does," Burke said.
"When your best player is of the temperament of Chellia Watson, you have a healthy locker room, you have a healthy culture, you have just everything going your way because you don't find people that have the accolades that she has and you don't find people that are talented as she is and have the future that she does that are selfless anymore.”
As Watson makes her final push to pros this season, her production on the floor has become a testament to the person she has become both professionally and personally.
“My career after this, that I’ll be able to work towards helping my mom," Watson said. "My ultimate life goal is to make sure my mom doesn't work, she's not stressing over anything, she doesn't want anything, she doesn't need anything because I've already made that possible for her to have whatever she needs.”
Watson’s character off the court has become a direct reflection of her countless success on it.
“If you think the basketball piece is the best piece about her, it is just who she is and what she stands for, how she was raised and just the way she conducts herself on a daily basis,” Burke said.