As William Paterson women’s basketball wrapped a 25-3 season, the team broke records: an unbeaten 18-0 NJAC regular season, the program’s first NCAA tournament bid in over a decade, and a roster of conference honorees.
Renee Wells’ case was built game by game: From NJAC Rookie of the Year to Player of the Year, All-American honors, and a senior season playing flawlessly through a torn labrum.
Only Wells seemed surprised when the Roland Watts Award was announced at the athletic awards ceremony, and she had won.
“I wasn’t expecting to get it,” Wells said. “Just hearing my name called for that type of award, it felt like all my hard work paid off. It was the perfect ending to my career.”
The Watts award at WP is a prestigious honor for student-athletes who demonstrate exceptional dedication, effort, and commitment to their sport and enhance the university’s athletic culture. The award was named after Roland Watts, a dedicated former WP alumnus.
Head coach Erin Monahan, who quoted leadership in her ceremony remark as “making others better as a result of your own presence,” said the definition fit Wells without much space for error.
“Renee’s impact didn’t begin her senior year,” Monahan said. “She trusted the process, believed in herself, the staff, and her teammates.”
A team that bought in
Wells made it known that it couldn’t have been done without her team behind her. Jada Jacobs won NJAC Defensive Player of the Year. Patty Walsh made Second-Team All-Conference. Monahan credited Mattison Chiera, Patty Walsh, and Jada Jacobs for leadership with Wells, and Megan Sears set the tone in the locker room. The entire roster played for one another.
“I think it’s a mix of our chemistry on the court, we worked very well together. We knew our roles,” said Wells when describing how being a leader, friend, and player mix on the court.
Monahan said the team’s buy-in began before the season, in a talk with Wells about an injury that would have ended most players’ seasons.
Playing through the tear
The diagnosis came early in the summer: torn labrum. Surgery meant delayed graduation and a lost season. Wells played anyway.
“I knew I had the mentality to get through it, so I really just pushed. I got the treatment I needed, and I wore the brace the entire season,” she said. After 33 years of coaching, Monahan still isn’t sure how Wells managed.
“To finish the season as the NJAC Player of the Year, with a torn shoulder, incredible,” Monahan said. “Imagine if she had the surgery and was healed throughout the year.”
Wells’ game shifted: less offense-focused, more footwork, assists, steals, and communication. Sometimes, she wasn’t the top scorer, but she still took three or four charges…with a torn labrum.
“It was like having an additional coach on the floor,” Monahan said, adding that Wells had one of the highest basketball IQs she’s coached in three decades. Her family plays a key role in that influence: her father is a WP alum who played basketball, and her brother now plays high school ball.
Leadership that lingers
Wells leads by example more than words: holding teammates accountable, checking in off the court, joking when appropriate, and getting serious when needed.
“I had a good relationship of being respected but also liked,” Wells said. “When I said something with a strict tone, they took it very well. It was just the little things, checking in, making sure they were good. And I had the season I had, and the career I had, to back up what I was saying.”
Monahan said the impact compounded over four years.
“She was an incredible worker who spent a lot of hours shooting, watching film, conditioning,” said Monahan. “And that is something others picked up as well.”
One last bus ride
Unfortunately, the season did not end the way the Pioneers hoped. They fell short in the NJAC Championship to The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). They waited less than 24 hours, hoping their NPI would be enough for one of the final NCAA Tournament bids. The NPI is an NCAA power index that ranks teams based on win percentage, strength of schedule, and quality-win bonuses rather than subjective polls.
It was enough.
The team gathered to watch the selection show together.
“Hearing William Paterson announced was exciting and very important to be together as a team,” Monahan said. It was a season of triumphs and historic moments for the WP women’s basketball team, and though the run ended in the first round, the extra practices, travel, and team unity made it “one of the best experiences of my life,” said Wells.
What’s next
Wells now faces the surgery she postponed. She’ll return as a WP student assistant and eventually become a head coach.
“Rookie of the Year in the NJAC to Player of the Year in the NJAC and All-American, anyone would be lucky to have her on their staff,” Monahan said. “Her future goal is to be a head coach, and she will achieve that goal as well.”
The award goes to seniors, but the hope is that their habits stay with the team. Wells has hers ingrained in history.
“The effort you put in comes back to you,” she said. “Everything happens for a reason.”
