Last season, the Georgetown women’s basketball team was so depleted by injuries that at times it had only eight players dressing for games. At the beginning of this year, with five players dealing with injuries, the team seemed destined for the same fate – until Head Coach Jim Lewis took drastic action.

Desperately hoping to avoid a season derailed by injury, Lewis added three walk-ons – none of whom had ever played collegiate basketball – to the roster just days before the Hoyas’ season opener.

“[The additions] were caused by the injury situation that we were dealing with and still are to a certain extent,” Lewis said. “We [currently] have three scholarship players that are rehabbing and coming back from injuries.”

The NCAA allows players to be added to the roster at any time as long as the players are academically eligible and are certified by Georgetown’s compliance office, according to Lewis. Because of these regulations, Lewis began to look for students already involved in Georgetown athletics.

“We put the word out with our players that we needed help. We told our players that if there were any athletes on other rosters that were former players in high school and were interested, to have them get in touch with us.”

After a short search, Georgetown added senior tennis player Kelly Comolli, senior lacrosse player Kelyn Freedman and former women’s basketball team manager and marketing assistant Jasmine Motton for its season opener against Richmond.

“We knew we needed additional help, and we obviously have gotten it from the most satisfying area, meaning other teams … [and] we actually converted a manager into a player,” Lewis said.

Comolli, a captain on the tennis team, was the first of the walk-ons to join the team. In high school, Comolli earned four letters in basketball and graduated as the third-leading scorer in program history.

“Kelly has this tremendous energy and passion that we really needed,” Lewis said. “She has just given us a heart, attitude and leadership from being a captain on the tennis team.”

Comolli believes that already being a collegiate athlete has prepared her to play basketball for the Blue and Gray.

“It has helped a lot to play tennis at D-1 level and then coming to play basketball,” Comolli said. “It has definitely helped to know the demands of a D-1 sport. … I also think basketball will be good for getting fitter for tennis.”

Freedman is a senior captain and midfielder on the women’s lacrosse team. Last season, she was named to the first team all-Big East and second team all-South for lacrosse. Freedman, a 12-time letter winner in high school, graduated as her school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball.

“The first time I saw Kelyn I was just like, ‘Wow,'” Lewis said. “I saw her making shots. I walked over to her and asked her what she wanted to do, and she said, ‘Coach, I want to practice.’ She jumped in without missing a beat. She is a terrific athlete. She has really been able to transition rather quickly to the team [because] of her tremendous athleticism.”

Although Freedman will not be able to go to basketball practice twice a week due to conflicts with her lacrosse practice schedule, she is excited to be back on the court.

“The [basketball team] has been awesome. I am just trying to do our best to help them out because I know they are low on numbers,” Freedman said. “They have been really [appreciative]. … It is fun to be back playing [basketball].”

Jasmine Motton was the final roster addition. Before being added to the team, Motton was a student manager and a marketing assistant.

“Jasmine has a really unique story,” Lewis said. “Being a manager, sometimes she has to help out here and there. She did some things with the basketball one time, and I [realized] she can really play.”

Motton has been playing with the team for a week and believes that the transition from her administrative role to teammate has been seamless.

“The only difference between managing and playing is that I am actually on the court playing now,” Motton said. “[As a manager], I was at every practice, weight room session, on the road, so I basically did everything they did except play – but, now I can do that too.”

The players will immediately provide a needed depth to the Georgetown team. Despite the players’ basketball background, their future role on the team has not been determined, according to Lewis.

“Roles tend to evolve naturally through the course of practices when you see strengths and weaknesses. … Roles [become] more specific,” Lewis said. “As these young women who just joined the program will realize, their roles will subsequently evolve as well, without any time frame. But right now, they are just adding a very valuable depth to our program.”