The Stanford University women’s basketball team defeated Arizona Easter Sunday night 54-53 in the women’s NCAA finals. The Cardinals’ victory was the first NCAA women’s championship title for the school in 29 years.
One of the team’s leaders is Anna Wilson, the sister of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. But with all of her success on the court, the Pac-12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year has shown she realizes all of her accomplishments are through Jesus Christ. She even has Colossians 3:23 listed in her Twitter bio. The scripture from the Bible’s New Testament reads: “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”
Before the championship game, Wilson took the time to send a tweet to her followers about Christ. “You can do all things! Jesus you always come through,” she wrote.
Wilson shared with ESPN last April how her Christian faith helps keep her disciplined and how it helped her define success. “When things aren’t going my way and it’s tough on the court, I always whisper, ‘He must increase, I must decrease,’” Wilson wrote in a first-person article. “That’s John 3:30. I wrote that on my left wrist and ‘joy’ on the top of my left hand before every practice. For me, that means minimizing myself — to put others first, and Jesus first, is more important than anything else. My faith has helped me with my definition of success. It’s definitely not all about me.”
She also added she looks on her time at Stanford as a gift that has brought her even more than an education.
“With all the ups and downs of being a student-athlete at the most competitive academic and athletic university, I’ve learned more than I could’ve imagined,” Wilson said. “I wouldn’t change a thing. I have friends and mentors for a lifetime. When I lost a dad, God provided an entire family that helped me become the woman I am today. I know my dad would be proud.”