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Gabbi San Diego hoped her tears of joy would come after she played point guard for Christopher Newport University in the Division III women’s basketball national championship game Saturday. Instead, they fell two hours before tipoff.
There were tears aplenty in the wake of the Captains’ heartbreaking 57-52 loss to Transylvania, but the joyful ones she’ll never forget came when Gabbi spotted her mother in a greeting line as she walked into American Airlines Arena in Dallas.
Sharon San Diego has lived in the Philippines the past the past three years and had never seen her daughter play a college basketball game in person. She made the 27-hour plane ride unannounced on the day before the final and surprised Gabbi as she walked down a red carpet line to the arena.
“I was completely shocked,” Gabbi said. “After not seeing her for so long (Sharon last visited her daughter in September 2022), it brought some tears out.
“She had done a good job of making me think she’d still be in the Philippines, because she was asking me if the game would be live-streamed (online). Having her and the rest of the family there (her father, two brothers, a sister and an aunt) brought me a feeling of happiness and joy.”
Sharon said, “I wasn’t planning to come back to Virginia until August or September of this year, but when Gabbi’s team reached the national championship game, I decided to come and surprise her.
“I wore a mask (in the greeting line) so she wouldn’t recognize me right away. The San Diego family is good at surprises.”
Although Sharon had never seen one of Gabbi’s previous 50 CNU games in person, she had watched almost every one on her laptop in Valencia, a city of about 40,000 in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. A pediatric nurse, Sharon was stuck there while visiting her mother at the outbreak of the COVID pandemic three years ago.
Sharon decided to stay and supervise the final touches of construction on the home in Valencia she and Robert San Diego — Gabbi’s father and a business owner in Northern Virginia — will retire to later this year. Although Sharon could not see Gabbi play in person, she has become a rabid CNU women’s basketball fan.
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“My mom will watch video of the teams we’re going to play and send me scouting reports,” Gabbi said. “When we’re going to play against a good point guard, she’ll tell me to be on my toes.”
Sharon admits, “I’m not much of a basketball coach, so I’ll just tell her to be aggressive and not be afraid to drive to the basket, because I know her size (5-foot-1) is an obstacle. I’ll tell her to play for Jesus, glorify the Lord and be humble.”
Sharon’s most tangible influence on Gabbi’s career came while she was a two-time all-region selection for South County High in Lorton. Gabbi feared she would not be recruited because of her height, so Sharon counseled her not to give up the dream.
“Her father and I kept encouraging her and told her she could play in college because, although she’s tiny, she is fast and has a good basketball IQ,” Sharon said. “When she was recruited by Christopher Newport, she was so happy.
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“We knew she was going to make her team better because she’s a good leader and a good person all-around.”
Gabbi did her mom proud Saturday with 11 points and a team-high five assists. The Captains (31-1) fell behind to also-unbeaten Transylvania by 13 points in the second half, but came all the way back to tie the game at 49 on Gabbi’s layup with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining.
The Pioneers (33-0) scored to take a two-point with 43 seconds left, but Gabbi almost tied the score again. Her layup against a defender a foot taller rolled off the rim with 20 seconds to play and the Pioneers made six free throws in the final seconds to clinch the championship.
“I’m proud that I trusted my gut in the moment and tried to make something happen, so I can live with that,” Gabbi said of the miss. “It’s tough when you’re just a game away from your dream coming true, but we played our hearts out and I feel confident we were able to walk out of there with our heads held high.”
That made her mother’s 27-hour trek to Texas — with stopovers in Doha, Qatar, and Washington, D.C. — worthwhile.
“I was so happy to hold her and hug her before the game,” Sharon said. “Afterward, I told her ‘I’m so proud of you. You did your best, that’s all you can do and you’re going to get the national championship next year.’”
Marty O’Brien, 757-247-4963, mjobrien@dailypress.com. Twitter @MartyOBrienDP