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Alaina Rice was just happy she caught it on video. But her head coach at IMG Academy, Shell Dailey, wasn’t.

A member of the IMG’s football coaching staff had angrily entered Dailey’s office, looking for the ‘YouTube girl.’ Supposedly, one of the women’s basketball players dared one of the football players to jump into one of the many nearby lagoons. The player couldn’t swim. And, sometimes, alligators roamed the area.

Immediately, Dailey knew it was Rice. But when confronted, Rice didn’t seem sorry nor guilty. She was always getting into something, and nothing kept her down.

Rice, from Rockledge, Florida, has bounced around elite basketball programs all her life. From IMG in high school to clinching starting roles at two Division-I programs, Rice is now in her senior season at SU. Experiencing a long journey that’s led her all over, Rice said she wouldn’t change a thing. She’s learned the importance of taking the most from everyday — living life to the fullest — developing this mindset after her father Rodell Rice’s condition worsened.

“Life doesn’t stop for anybody,” Rice said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to keep going.”

When Rice was eight years old, the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs urged Rodell, an ex-member of the U.S. military, to receive surgery for an undisclosed long-term injury. But after treatment, Rodell entered into a coma for nearly two months. Today, he’s a blind quadriplegic.

Lakenya Rice, Rice’s mother, remembers breaking the news to her daughter. “Ok, so daddy’s not well. Daddy’s sick,” she said.

At the time, Rice didn’t fully understand. She’d get frustrated. In the early stages of Rodell’s unconsciousness, Rice visited him frequently. Other days, when she couldn’t bear to “see him like that anymore,” she’d stay home.

The doctors told Lakenya it was unlikely that Rodell would ever wake, and so when he murmured a response to her good morning greetings, Lakenya thought she was hallucinating. She wasn’t — Rodell had replied.

He couldn’t move his limbs, and he communicated shortly that he was blind. But he was awake. Vision-impaired therapy and rehabilitation filled the next five months before Rodell was discharged.

“She was daddy’s girl from birth, but it’s a disability,” Lakenya said. “You hope for it to get better, but it doesn’t always get better.”

When Rodell was still able to, the two loved going on little “outings,” and every Friday was reserved for a trip to Walmart, where Rice could get whatever she wanted. Most times, she got Dum Dum lollipops, which soon translated into several silver caps on her teeth to treat cavities.

In Rodell’s place, her brother, Austin, drove Rice to school. If Rice wanted to go out on an adventure or needed to be out of the house, Diane Ivey, Rice’s grandmother, would take her on shopping sprees. Ivey and Rice would eat, watch a movie and pick up anything from “girly-girly dresses” to the newest Jordans.

But it wasn’t the same. Rice still missed the drives with Dad.

“I understand you can’t do these things, but it kind of hurt me in a way to where I just had to accept it,” Rice said. “He still is my father, he still remembers things, but at the end of the day, my father can’t take me places like he used to.”

Over the years, Rice adapted better. The older she got, the more Lakenya allowed her to help out around the house. Rice fed Rodell, organized his medicine and helped pick him up out of his chair when he got ready in the mornings. She even ironed out his clothes, because that’s what he used to do for her.

“It was never ‘what are we going to do,’” Lakenya said. “It was always ‘we gotta keep moving,’ so when it happened, we just never stopped. And we still haven’t stopped.”

Rockledge High School head coach Reuben Williams first saw Rice play in middle school. He said it seemed like her battery never ran out. Rice joined Williams’ varsity team as a freshman, and from the jump, Rice had an ability to create steals, grab rebounds and make the gritty plays that no one else could, Williams said he thinks Rodell’s situation at home didn’t hinder Rice’s progress. Instead, it served as fuel to do better.

“I think it motivated her more than anything to just be her best,” Reuben said. “If I didn’t know that her dad was in that situation, (by) the way she carried herself, you would never know if she had any struggles at home.”

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After her first year with the Raiders, Rice transferred to IMG Academy to play against some of the top players in the country. Lakenya was on board, so long as Rice was serious about her craft. And, with Rodell’s situation at home, Lakenya wanted her daughter’s focus to remain purely on education and athletics.

Prior to making the switch, Rice participated in two summer camps at IMG held by Dailey. Dailey loved Rice’s feel for the game, but thought she needed more discipline. Rice was late to many of the camp practice sessions, picking and choosing which ones she wanted to attend based on her social schedule.

“I looked at the other coaches, and I was just like ‘I hope she doesn’t come here full time,’” Dailey said. “Having to tell her to wake up every morning is going to be a chore.”

But Rice enrolled, and “made no strangers” in the locker room. She had a big personality and was “always bubbly,” said Norfolk State assistant coach Kevin Lynum, who coached Rice at Florida A&M.

“She was the glue. She is just that person,” Lynum said. “I don’t recall her being in a bad mood, no matter what the situation was.”

Named FAMU’s interim head coach entering the 2019-20 season, Lynum didn’t have much time to recruit. He visited an unsigned senior showcase in Atlanta which Rice attended, seeing Rice’s poise and confidence.

Lynum threw Rice “into the fire,” starting her at the point guard position as a true freshman. Even when she struggled, Lynum still trusted her. Rice finished the season second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.3 points and was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year.

“This is a kid that never missed a game for me. I don’t care what the circumstances were,” Lynum said. “This kid was dependable. She was always going to be there. She was always going to be there to be able to do what we wanted her to do.”

But sometimes, there were times when Rice just wanted to come home. On the days she did return, Rice spent the entire day with her family.

“I was trying to be there,” Rice said. “Whenever I went home, I would help as much as I could.”

When Rice was away from home, she called Rodell every day. She’d ask him how he was and compliment him on the way he looked. Rodell’s disability affected the way he talked, slurring his speech. Rice and the rest of the family could understand but she said anyone who wasn’t consistently around Rodell probably wouldn’t.

“Even now, she’s still closer to him than she is to me,” Lakenya said, jokingly. “When it all happened, I thought it might’ve made her feel some type of way, but it didn’t. Their relationship still grew.”

Drawn to FAMU’s family-like culture, Rice left when Lynum did in 2020. Many options at bigger programs opened up once Rice entered the transfer portal and she ended up at Auburn with then-head coach Terri Williams.

With the Tigers, Rice didn’t stay long — her second short stint in just as many schools. One season after she arrived, Terri joined Penn State as an assistant coach. Terri remembered Rice’s commitment to the team. She remembers that although Rice hadn’t completely mastered punctuality, but she was a hard worker, leaving the gym late and coming in on rest days — values instilled by Rodell.

“It allowed her to really understand and appreciate opportunities,” Terri said. “Not taking anything for granted. I think it’s been more of that for her.”

When Terri left, Rice transferred again. She had heard of Syracuse coming out of high school but Lakenya thought there was no way she’d handle the weather. Regardless, Rice wanted to go, and Lakenya backed her decision.

Rice spent her first year with the Orange as a sixth-man, averaging 4.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in 29 games. This year, she’s upped those numbers to 6.8 and 5.1, respectively. Rice is still eligible to return for a graduate year, but hasn’t made a concrete decision yet. However, her dreams span far beyond.

Before the season began, Rice sat down in front of a camera, shooting a quick-fire question film designed to help fans get to know the women’s basketball roster. It was Rice’s turn.

Lakenya mentioned a lot of the content that Rice included in the finished video. She knew Rice wanted to travel the world and potentially play professionally overseas. It was a dream that stemmed from Rice’s curiosity and yearning to explore — characteristics that Lakenya said had grown in Rice since Rodell’s incident.

“It makes her live more,” Lakenya said. “‘Why settle for the little when I can do so much more?’”

Rice said her desire to travel came because “you never know when life might change for you,” and that’s what her father’s situation taught her. She refused to live her life repetitively or take anything for granted.

“You only get one,” Rice said. “Might as well live it to the fullest.”

Published on March 6, 2023 at 11:44 pm

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff