Correspondent file photo / Robert Hayes Former YSU guard Jewel Watkins drives toward the basket during the Penguins’ victory over Oakland on Jan. 26 at the Beeghly Center.

YOUNGSTOWN — From high school through college, former Youngstown State guard Jewel Watkins’ basketball journey has been shaped by family.

On Nov. 19, 2019, Watkins’ father, J.T., passed away when she was a junior at Whitehall-Yearling outside of Columbus. Watkins was only 16 years old at the time, and the loss hit her hard.

But one silver lining that came from his passing was that it made Watkins more cognizant of the importance of family.

“Without my Dad being here, it definitely has been really hard,” Watkins said. “It’s definitely made me — I don’t know if I would say closer to my family, but more connected to my family and (it made me) value my family a lot more.”

Since her father’s death, one thing has kept her going: basketball.

Now, after concluding her college career and graduating from YSU in May, Watkins is set to take the next step in her basketball journey.

She hired an agent in April, and last month, Watkins signed her first professional contract with The Address UCC Glanmire, a team in Cork, Ireland that is part of the Women’s Super League in Europe.

“My senior year, I definitely put myself in a good position, which I’m happy about, because it’s always a ‘What if?’ What if it doesn’t work? What if it does work?” Watkins said. “I felt like I really did put in the work to set myself up pretty well for this opportunity. So just seeing it all come into play and seeing how smooth the process was, it just felt really good. It was very rewarding, and it made me feel like all my work in college really paid off.”

Glanmire’s season typically runs from October to March with little to no breaks, even for holidays, which means that Watkins will have to spend a long time away from her family.

“I am a little sad to be away from my mom, my nephew, my siblings and just my family in general and be so far away for such a long time,” Watkins said. “But I just know that if my dad was here, I know he would encourage me to go. I know that he would want me to chase my dreams, just like how the rest of my family is encouraging me to go and experience this opportunity and make the most of it.”

On her way to the pros, Watkins had to battle through plenty of adversity, especially during her junior year of college.

Watkins finished her high school career with plenty of accolades, and she went on to begin her college career at Coppin State.

Then, after two successful seasons with the Eagles in which she was one of the team’s top scorers and defenders, she transferred to Charlotte for her junior season. But during her time with the 49ers, Watkins struggled both on and off the court.

“There were moments throughout college, especially my junior year, where I had doubts and I was thinking that I had messed myself up and that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to be a pro,” Watkins said.

But in the back of her mind, the memory of her father gave Watkins motivation. So after a rough year at Charlotte, she entered the transfer portal and looked to move somewhere closer to home, where she could end her college career on a high note and get her basketball journey back on track.

After forging a connection with then-new head coach Melissa Jackson and the Penguins’ coaching staff, Watkins ended up choosing to transfer to Youngstown State, and she never looked back.

“I’m so grateful to YSU, and I’m so grateful for Coach Jackson. I can say that I genuinely enjoyed my year at Youngstown all the way around,” Watkins said. “I have had other successful years in college, but just being able to come to practice and be in a good environment and be excited to go to practice — basically the biggest thing was just the environment at Youngstown. I was happy, I was thriving in all areas — school, my friendships and relationships with my teammates and coaches were great.”

Last season, Watkins led the Penguins in minutes (32.4) and scoring (15.3), was one of the team’s best defenders and was named YSU’s team MVP for the season. She also scored her 1,000th career point in a win over Oakland at the end of January.

I really don’t have anything negative to say about Youngstown, except I wish I could have stayed longer. It was honestly a great experience,” Watkins said. “My one year at Youngstown really changed my perspective on college. You can really go somewhere and play basketball and do what you love doing, enjoy it and actually be happy and not have to have negative experiences or negative outcomes. So Youngstown was great, and I loved everything about it.”