An All-New Jersey Athletic Conference performer on the court as well as in the classroom, Michelle Obasi is approaching a career milestone as she heads into her fourth and final season with the Rutgers-Camden women’s basketball team.
The Scarlet Raptors’ senior tri-captain is only 135 points shy of becoming the 12th player in program history to join the 1,000-point club. Her 865 career points already rank 17th on the all-time Rutgers-Camden list.
Obasi has appeared in all 77 games Rutgers-Camden has played in her career, starting 75. She is 27 games shy of tying the program mark of 104, set by Tamara Carey (1991-95), so that milestone is within reach if the Scarlet Raptors earn a post-season berth.
Obasi also ranks 10th on the program’s career list with 588 rebounds. Her current rebounding average of 7.6 per game is the 12th highest in program history for any player with the NCAA minimum of 450 career boards. She ranks 11th in career field goals (370) and once she reaches the NCAA minimum of 400 field goals, she will jump onto the program’s career list for field goal percentage. Her current career average of 40.5 would place her sixth in program history.
Obasi also enters her senior season tied for 18th on the program’s career list with 109 steals.
An outstanding student as well, Obasi was named to the inaugural Rutgers-Camden Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the 2015 fall semester and has repeated on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll every semester since then (2016 Spring, 2016 Fall and 2017 Spring). She also earned New Jersey Athletic Conference Academic Honorable Mention during both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 scholastic years.
Basketball 2016-17: Captured All-NJAC Second Team honors on the court and added NJAC Academic Honorable Mention for the second straight season…Named Rutgers-Camden’s Most Valuable Player…Served as a team co-captain…For the second straight season, was one of only two players to start all 26 Rutgers-Camden games …Named the school’s Raptor of the Week and added NJAC Player of the Week honors on Nov. 28…Also was named Raptor of the Week Feb. 6…Led the team in rebounding (8.5 rpg) and finished third in scoring (11.9 ppg)…Also placed third on the team in steals (38) and fourth in assists (36)…Shot 131-for-303 (.432) from the floor and 48-for-72 (.667) from the foul line…Scored in double figures in 19 games, including a career-high 28 points at The College of New Jersey (Nov. 22), aided by 11-for-17 shooting from the floor and 6-for-6 from the foul line…Grabbed double figures in rebounds six times…Had five double-doubles during the season, giving her 11 for her career…Opened the season with a double-double of 18 points and 12 boards against Pitt-Bradford (Nov. 18), while setting a career high with five blocks…Tied her career high in blocks with four against Hunter College (Dec. 30)…Had a double-double at William Paterson (Jan. 14), notching 16 points and 16 rebounds…Had double-doubles in three straight games, including 14 points and 18 rebounds against Kean (Jan. 30, while adding a career-high six assists), 10 points and 10 rebounds at Stockton (Feb. 1) and 13 points and 13 rebounds in another game against Kean (Feb. 4)…Made 13 straight foul shots at the beginning of the season (last three vs. Pitt-Bradford, Nov. 18, 6-for-6 vs. The College of New Jersey, Nov. 22, and 4-for-4 vs. John Jay, Nov. 26).
Basketball 2015-16: Started all 26 games as a team- tri-captain for the Scarlet Raptors, joining Gabby Greene as the only players to start all of Rutgers-Camden’s games…Named the NJAC Player of the Week on Nov. 23 after opening the season with a double-double against Bryn Mawr College (Nov. 18) of 11 rebounds, career highs of 27 points and five steals and a career-high tying three blocked shots…Followed up that game with a 12-point performance against Cedar Crest College (Nov. 22) to cement her NJAC weekly honor…Also earned Rutgers-Camden’s Raptor of the Week honor on Nov. 23…Notched two other double-doubles during the season in addition to the Bryn Mawr game: 24 points and 14 rebounds against New Jersey City University (Jan. 13) and 18 points and a career-high 21 boards against Kean University (Jan. 30)…Scored in double figures in 14 of her 26 games and had four double-figure games off the boards…Blocked three shots on a pair of occasions, coming in the Bryn Mawr game and against NJCU in the second meeting of the season, Feb. 17…Overall, produced five games with two or more blocked shots…Shot 38-for-65 from the foul line (.585) during the season, with a high of 6-for-10 against Kean (Jan. 30)…Had a high of 13 field goals (13-for-24) in the Bryn Mawr season opened (Nov. 18) and went 11-for-23 from the field in the NJCU game on Jan. 13…Had her season high of three assists, while adding 10 points, nine rebounds, three steals and one block against Rutgers-Newark (Feb. 10)…Had three or more steals on five occasions…Named NJAC Academic Honorable Mention.
Basketball 2014-15: Started 23 of her 25 games…Led the club with 12 blocked shots…Finished fourth on the team in scoring (11.3 points per game), rebounding (6.9 rebounds per game) and assists (28)…Fifth on the team in steals (33)…Shot .408 (122-299) from the floor…Third on the team in minutes played (762)…Named the New Jersey Athletic Conference’s Rookie of the Week Dec. 1…Scored in double figures on 16 occasions, with a high of 20 points against New Jersey City University (Jan. 14), aided by 10-for-20 shooting from the floor…Also added 10 rebounds in that game to produce one of her three double-doubles on the season…First career double-double came against Kean University (Dec. 6) when she scored 18 points and added 10 rebounds…Shot 9-for-16 from the floor in that game…Also had a double-double of 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against Rosemont College (Jan. 5)…Grabbed double-digit rebounds in four games, with her first career double-digit game coming against William Paterson University (Nov. 22)…Made collegiate debut at Neumann University (Nov. 15), scoring 11 points and adding seven rebounds, two assists and a career-high four steals…Blocked her first two shots against King’s College (Nov. 16) while adding 18 points, six rebounds and two assists…Tied her four-steal career high against Bryn Mawr College (Nov. 19), when she added 16 points, eight rebounds and one blocked shot…Scored in double figures for six straight games (Dec. 6-Jan. 5), averaging 14.5 points over that span…Had four assists against both St. Joseph’s-Long Island (Dec. 20) and Rowan University (Jan. 29)…Set a new career high with three blocked shots in the Raptors’ final game of the season, Feb. 18 at New Jersey City University.
High School: Three-year basketball letterman at Camden Catholic High School for Coach Chris Palladino…Captured Second Team All-Conference as a junior…First Team All-Conference during senior year, when she served as the team captain…Al Carino All-Star Game selection…Earned Most Improved honors three times…National Honor Society…Graduated in 2014.
Personal: Born April 11, 1996…Nicknamed “Chelle”…Says a serenity prayer before every game…Enjoys reading, tutoring, educating people on the African Diaspora, and eating…Biology major with an African American Studies minor at Rutgers-Camden…Plans to attend Physical Therapy school and start a business to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds…Michelle is the daughter of Maria and Nicholas Obasi of Camden.
