Samiyah Horton, Ebony Odom-Barnes reflect on careers with Rutgers—Newark women's basketball

The Rutgers—Newark women’s basketball team’s season was not one for the ages, as the Scarlet Raiders (2-23, 1-17) finished second-to-last in their conference and ended the season on a 15-game losing streak.

Despite the brutal season, one of the brighter moments came during Rutgers’ final home game of the season. The team honored and celebrated two of its top players for senior night, senior guard Samiyah Horton and senior forward Ebony Odom-Barnes, who were suiting up for the final time at the Golden Dome in Newark.

Horton, majoring in psychology with a minor in neuroscience, and recently named Second Team All-NJAC, led the Scarlet Raiders this season with 17.6 points per game (PPG) and three assists per game, both career highs.

Even with Horton’s strong offensive play, the improvement she is most proud of is in her defense, with 70 steals this season.

“I took pride in getting a lot of steals this year,” Horton said. “Just playing the passing lane and just being in the right place at the right time.”

Odom-Barnes graduated from Rutgers—Newark in December with a bachelor's degree in leadership and management and is now working on her master’s degree in Public Administration, all while being the second-leading scorer on the team and averaging nearly 10 PPG.

Odom-Barnes said her confidence has been crucial to her success, but that confidence was not always there for her.

“My freshman year, I started for a little less than half the season, maybe?" Odom-Barnes said. "Having that responsibility of starting didn’t give me confidence, because I felt as though I was only starting because our starting big was playing volleyball.”

But as different players left, her playing time, and thus her role for the Scarlet Raiders, increased.

“So it definitely forces me to be more confident with the ball because I’m gonna get the ball,” Odom-Barnes said. “It’s not like I’m waiting in the corner. I’m probably bringing it down the court.”

With so many responsibilities both on and off the court, Horton and Odom-Barnes considered time management the key to success in the never-ending balancing act between academics and athletics.

“The coaches are very big on academic success on the team,” Horton said. “We have study halls four days out the week for an hour in the library. The coaches are really devoted to those study hall hours because we need to be proficient in the classroom. We’re not just athletes, we’re student-athletes, being a student comes first.”

This was especially true for Odom-Barnes, who served as Vice President of events for the Rutgers—Newark chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants.

“So a lot of these things that I’m involved in require me to be in person,” Odom-Barnes said. “So events that we’re having with the student (organization), practices, film sessions, games, classes, so it was definitely a challenge trying to go back and forth, and then also come home, and take care of my home.”

Despite these academic successes, on the court, the team struggled, and in the wake of their leading scorer’s departure, Horton provided some wisdom on how the team can turn it around next year.

“The little things matter the most. A lot of times, we find ourselves just giving up on a play or not finishing the play through, where we could have executed well if we just would have kept hustling and just put forth the effort for it,” Horton said.

Odom-Barnes cited a lack of team alignment for the struggles during the season.

“I think buying in was definitely our biggest problem. We had chemistry off the court, and on the court, definitely in practices, but just buying into the process really would have helped our game translate from practice into the actual games,” Odom-Barnes said.

Whatever the future holds for the Scarlet Raiders, they will have to figure it out without two of their key players next season. 

Meanwhile, the two athletes are focusing on their own futures.

Horton said she would like to continue her basketball career overseas, but if that doesn’t work out, she said she would like to give back to her community through teaching and coaching the next generation.

“I was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, so I feel like I would have a better connection with the students over there because I know what it’s like to be over there, live over there, grow up there, learn over there, play a sport there … so I could really just reach out to them and really change their mindset," Horton said.

Odom-Barnes, though, says she would like to take some time away from the game and work on herself as the first-generation college graduate begins to work on her master’s degree.

“Even when I’m not playing, I’m training, I’m coaching, I’m watching,” Odom-Barnes said. “Now that I don’t have that responsibility, I just want to take a step away and really figure out who I am outside of basketball.”

Regardless of what the future holds for either, they’ve established themselves in their time with the team.

Horton says she’s proud to have been a part of that legacy at the place she calls home.

“(People) just think there’s one Rutgers in New Brunswick,” Horton said. “They don’t know that there’s a Rutgers—Newark, or they think it’s just a smaller school, but it’s all Rutgers, and I’m just happy to make it my legacy here, in my hometown, for the school, and it feels good.”