A box score does not measure the true value a player has on a team and Brianah Ramos is no exception. The senior guard from Montgomery, New York has gone from being a productive bench player to the consummate teammate.
In the 2014-15 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game, Gillian Abshire went to the bench in foul trouble and Brianah Ramos game into the game and led the Bobcats to a come from behind victory against the Marist Red Foxes.
Ramos game into that game averaging 2.2 points per game but that night she would score a career high nine points to help her team win a conference championship.
“I knew that I was in the game for a reason and that I needed to be productive,” Ramos said. “It was awesome.”
During the preseason going into her junior season, Ramos tore her anterior cruciate ligament.
“We had individual workouts; it was me, Adily [Martucci] and Maria [Napolitano]. I went into the air and came down onto my knee,” Ramos said.
Ramos has not suited up for the Bobcats since her career performance against Marist two years ago.
It was hard for Ramos to sit out her junior season because she has been playing basketball since she was young.
“Last year was really hard because I have been playing since I was seven years old and to have it taken away was a shock,” Ramos said.
Ramos struggled initially to accept that she was not going to be able to play the game she loved so much, but her senior year was much different.
“I had my [teammates] around me and it was a blessing this year because I can coach [my teammates] up,” Ramos said. “I think it’s better to hear criticism sometimes from your teammates than your coaches.”
Ramos has turned into the consummate teammate; she is always encouraging her teammates from the bench.
Jen Fay tore her ACL going into her sophomore season and has developed a strong relationship with Ramos because they had the same injury and rehabbed together.
“Bri has just been a motivational person, she is always positive. Me and her last year both sat out together. We got really close together and now she is a huge force, and a motivation for us to play harder,” Fay said.
Brittany Johnson suffered the same injury as Ramos and Fay, and Ramos has been there to support her as well.
Ramos has continued to be a positive influence for her teammates; she instills positivity and motivates them when they get down. She had developed handshakes for the members of the two units of the “Gold Rush” before injuries forced Quinnipiac to go away from that strategy.
“I had handshakes with 12 out of the 15,” Ramos said. “Most of them I think of but sometimes I look [handshakes] up online.”
During the semifinal game against Iona on Sunday afternoon, Ramos stepped into the fourth quarter huddle and gave her teammates a simple reminder. She reminded her teammates that Iona was the team that they lost too last season in the MAAC championship game.
“We were down, I looked at [the players] on the bench and I reminded them that [Iona] sent us home crying and don’t let it happen again,” Ramos said.
Ramos has become the person that will pick her teammates back up if they are ever down. She has also become a motivational force for many of her teammates.
“She is always positive, always instilling more and more positivity, getting us to play harder. She is the hype man of our team. She gets us excited to go out there and [play],” Jen Fay said.
Despite the fact that she has not played for two seasons Brianah Ramos has remained a prominent fixture on the team whether its keeping her teammates positive, or giving them that extra motivation they need to overcome a 10 point deficit in the fourth quarter.
