Jacksonville Waves women's basketball ready for season opener

From sea to shining sea, and sometimes all the way across the seas, Rennia Davis has chased her hoop dreams.

Now, as a charter member of the Jacksonville Waves, she's ready to help lead the First Coast's newest sports team into action.

"To have this option right here at home, it just makes it even more special to me," she said.

The Waves are gathering speed ahead of the May 15 Upshot League opening game against the Charlotte Crown inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, which will mark the city's debut in women's professional basketball.

"It's here. It's real," Waves head coach Jess Bogia said. "Sometimes, you've got to pinch yourself to make sure you believe it."

The 7 p.m. Friday start marks day one on the court for the four-team league, which has planned future expansion to Baltimore and to Nashville, Tenn.

Zawyer Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Jacksonville Icemen, operates the Upshot League, with former WNBA president Donna Orender as commissioner.

On and off the hardwood, the Waves have taken shape quickly. The club has assembled an 11-player active roster, eight of them with prior WNBA experience in some form, as well as corporate partnerships with The CSI Companies, Acuvue, Florida Blue and RadiFi Credit Union.

For many on the First Coast, the headline attraction is Jacksonville native Davis, a repeat state champion at Ribault High School — she also led the Trojans to national honors by winning the Dick's Sporting Goods Nationals at Madison Square Garden — and an All-SEC honoree in college with the Lady Vols of Tennessee.

Selected in the first round of the WNBA Draft in 2021, she's battled through injuries to play all over the world, most recently averaging 20.5 points and 11.8 rebounds at Nesibe Aydin in Turkey during the past season. She competed in camp with the WNBA's Seattle Storm before her release at the start of May.

Now back in Jacksonville, she's eager for the chance to inspire young fans with grit on both sides of the court.