DAVIDSON, NC — With 11.3 seconds left in the third quarter on Thursday, Nov. 5, the Davidson Wildcats trailed by 15 points on their home floor to the University of Virginia.
Still, there was a reason for the fans inside of Belk Arena to cheer.
Davidson coach Gayle Fulks had just signaled to the bench, telling Sylvie Jackson to go into the game. As she stepped onto the floor for the first time in 336 days, the crowd gave her a standing ovation. Jackson cracked a smile and put her hands on her hips for a brief moment, soaking it all in. This is what she had worked for. This is why she was determined to beat cancer.
“I had literal chills. I wasn’t expecting that, but it was awesome,” Jackson told USA TODAY Sports after the game. “This community has
really backed me through this whole journey, and I really can't thank them enough. That was an amazing moment.”
Six months after finishing treatment for stage two Hodgkin's lymphoma, which included 12 rounds of chemotherapy, Jackson was back on the court for Davidson, wearing her No. 22 jersey and contributing in a meaningful game.
“She’s a kid that’s worked really hard," Fulks told USA TODAY Sports. "She cares a lot about the team and she's been through a lot. Just her perseverance through it all was just incredible. It was great to see her back out here. I know everybody here was smiling when that happened.”
When Jackson entered the game, Virginia coach Aaron Roussell was also touched by the moment. Before being hired to lead the Cavaliers in April, Roussell spent seven years at Richmond where his Spiders battled the Wildcats in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
He knows Jackson well. She grew up in Zion Crossroads, Virginia, less than an hour northwest of Richmond. He visited with her briefly during pregame warmups and when she took the floor, he experienced an unfamiliar feeling.
“I wouldn’t have been upset if one of her shots went in. It wouldn’t have bothered me. I don't know that I've ever felt that as an opposing coach during a game,” Roussell told USA TODAY Sports. “I’ve known Sylvie a long time. I think she’s an incredible kid. Getting to know her and her family, being from our area, she's just an incredible story.”
Jackson missed her lone shot attempt in four minutes of play against the Cavaliers, who went on to win 72-57. But she did grab two rebounds, and early in the fourth quarter dropped a nifty assist to Ines Garcia, driving along the baseline before bouncing a pass between two defenders, allowing Garcia to catch it in stride and finish at the rim.
Her first points since defeating cancer came on Sunday, Nov. 8 in an 80-43 win over Campbell. Jackson chased down her own rebound off a missed 3-pointer and sank a short-range two-handed shot over a defender with ease. It was another moment where the Davidson crowd roared with joy.
“Basketball has been everything for me, so to have it taken away from me multiple times — I was just happy to warm up,” Jackson said. “This has been amazing. I didn't even need to get in the game (against Virginia), but Coach Gayle was nice enough to put me in. It's just awesome to be able to run around and play and have fun.”
Sylvie Jackson gets the rebound and score for the first time in 339 days 🥳#ShareShootStifle pic.twitter.com/7qmrbw2Nx0
— Davidson Women's Basketball (@Davidson_WBB) November 8, 2026
Sylvie Jackson’s journey
Jackson started playing basketball in the third grade with a local youth boys team and quickly fell in love with the sport. Around the sixth grade, basketball — and playing it at the collegiate level — became her focus. She was a three-year captain at Louisa County High School in Mineral, Virginia, and powered her team to a state championship. Jackson was a first-team All-State selection twice and scored more than 1,000 points. She was Davidson’s first commit for its 2023 recruiting class.
As a freshman, Jackson played in 13 games and had an impressive outing in a win over Charlotte, logging 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. She also scored 10 points in a win over Longwood and shot 40% from 3-point land for the season.
Jackson seemed primed for a bigger role as a sophomore, but a torn ACL would sideline her for the season. She aimed to have a strong comeback last year, but noticed she was losing weight. Jackson met with the athletic trainer at Davidson, who scheduled her for blood work and an ultrasound.
Those tests in early December 2025 revealed Jackson’s diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. She also had a mass about the size of a tennis ball in her chest. The news hit the team hard.
Jackson attacked her treatment head-on. She started a TikTok account to document her journey, sharing clips of shaving her head and her chemotherapy sessions. During her fight, her teammates and the coaching staff were incredibly supportive and present, sending her messages, visiting and bringing Jackson gifts and candy.
“Just knowing that my teammates are there for me, that really got me through it all,” Jackson said.
After six months of chemo, Jackson was in the clear. She took a month to reacclimate, then started a five-month journey of getting her body back into basketball shape.
She’s still working on regaining her stamina, but Jackson’s battle with cancer has taught her to appreciate the little things so many take for granted.
“It hasn't been an easy comeback over the last five months,” Jackson said. “Just being healthy day to day, it feels great to just be able to eat what I want, walk and talk and everything, because that was taken away for six months with the treatment.”
Fulks is confident that Jackson will be back to her old self eventually, but isn’t rushing her recovery.
“It's been a slow, steady build,” Fulks said. “We've been really cautious and she's really bought into the process. It's going to take some time and some days are going to be better than others, but she's working really hard to get back.”
The road ahead for Davidson
Fulks is in her 10th season leading the women’s basketball program at Davidson, a small private liberal arts college with an enrollment of less than 2,100 students nestled against the east side of Lake Norman in North Carolina.
Supported by superb facilities, a strong international pipeline and an athletic administration that cares about being great at both men’s and women’s basketball — it is the alma mater of Stephen Curry after all — Fulks has been able to turn the Wildcats into a consistent winner in one of the toughest mid-major leagues in the country. Two seasons ago, Davidson won a program-record 13 games in the A-10. In each of the past two seasons, they’ve advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
Davidson has never made the NCAA Tournament. The goal this season is to change that.
Fulks built a schedule to throw her team into the fire early, opening the year with Columbia, a team that won the second-tier WBIT last season and Virgina, which made the Sweet 16. Davidson will also face Notre Dame, Florida, Vanderbilt, NC State and Mississippi State before January.
“We have a lot of speed, a lot of length, a lot of great shooting. I think the newcomers have fit in seamlessly, and you know, Gayle's always got a great plan for us,” Jackson said. “She scheduled two really tough games for us to start the season. A lot of teams play, you know, Division III teams, and you don't learn much about your team from that. So I think this has been a great opportunity for us.”
Jackson’s perseverance through extreme adversity should be a constant reminder for the Widcats, with the right mindset, any obstacle can be conquered.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Davidson’s Sylvie Jackson beat cancer. Her return to basketball brought a crowd to its feet
