For a while, Cashee Wynn didn’t think she’d get a chance to keep playing basketball.
She thought she was done earlier this year, when she wrapped up her career at Odessa High.
But the right opportunity came up, to be the right fit at the right school — all at just the right time.
Wynn celebrated signing her letter of intent to play basketball at Oklahoma Wesleyan University on Wednesday afternoon, penning with the school while surrounded by family, friends, teammates and coaches at her family’s home in Odessa.
For Wynn, the moment marked a realization that she’d still have the chance to play the game she loves most.
“It’s a dream come true,” she said.
Wynn spent most of this spring, as her senior year winded down, resigned to the idea that she wouldn’t get the opportunity to play basketball at the next level.
But a couple months ago, as spring semester started to come toward a close and Wynn eyed graduation, Oklahoma Wesleyan reached out — and Wynn jumped on board.
“It’s always been a dream,” Wynn said. “I’ve always wanted to play basketball. It’s been my No. 1 sport.”
Once the Eagles’ coaches reached out, Wynn and Odessa High head coach Olivia Pyburn corresponded back with them, and started to look over logistics with things like financial aid until, ultimately, it started to look more clearly like a perfect fit for Wynn and the NAIA school.
“It turned out to be a great opportunity for her, and it’s something that she wanted to do, so I said, ‘Why not?’” Pyburn explained there at the signing celebration Wednesday. “You never know what could come out of this if you don’t jump at it.
“I’m very proud of her.”
Wynn didn’t have any offers to play at the next level back in February, when Odessa High’s season ended with the Lady Bronchos missing the playoffs with Wynn came off the bench for the team for much her senior season.
This spring, thinking her basketball career was over, she even mapped out plans to go to a nearby junior college in West Texas with a goal to try to compete for its track and field team.
But then Oklahoma Wesleyan reached out, emailing her after Wynn clicked her way through a recruiting inquiry form online.
Wynn talked with Oklahoma Wesleyan head coach Jason Jeschke and assistant coach Bre Williams, and the Eagles coaches asked Pyburn for film of Wynn.
As it turned out, Wynn was the kind of player Oklahoma Wesleyan was looking for, and Oklahoma Wesleyan was the kind of school Wynn was looking for.
“They asked me how she is as a player on and off the court — and what her faith is like, because it is a private Christian school,” Pyburn said.
“It is kind of like a perfect fit for her. She’s very smart. Academically, she has the brains. And just being able to continue to play basketball is the icing on the cake for her.”
Those were the kind of things Oklahoma Wesleyan was looking for in a player, and Wynn was able to offer them.
 “She wasn’t a star player for us. She was definitely one of our role players,” Pyburn said. “She took her role, she accepted it and never complained about it.
“To have this type of outcome, it just shows that, if you work hard, this could be your reward.”
For Wynn, finding Oklahoma Wesleyan was worth the wait — and so was the chance to keep playing the game she that loves most in college.
Wednesday, at times, the realization left her at a loss for words.
“It’s unexplainable,” Wynn said. “It’s a great feeling, knowing that I made it with strong supporters behind me.
“I’m speechless. I’m never speechless! Ever! I’m the main person on the team that talks,” she laughed.
Now, she has a chance to keep being that person on the team — being part of a team at the next level, which is really just what she was always hoping for.
