Varsity
Severn’s Owens has more in mind
Admirals’ hardworking star has his eye on winning a championship
During grade school, LJ Owens asked his mother whether she could start putting aside money for his big plans.
He wanted to pursue a basketball career and felt the best path would be attending a private school.
So with all his hard work, on the court and in the classroom, and also hers — often 16-hour shifts at work as a single parent with two children — they have relentlessly chased his goal.
And it’s paying off.
The star senior guard for Severn, Owens — a four-year starter and captain — made a commitment Oct. 18 to play at William & Mary after receiving nearly 20 scholarship offers.
On his way to becoming one of the area’s finest scorers, Owens recalls two days he considers the most special when it comes to basketball.
That day in October when he knew William & Mary was the perfect fit. And the other in November 2016, in the middle of his breakout junior season, when he got his first college offer — from Kansas State.
His mother, Gail Gaskin, was the first to know.
“I knew it was a huge accomplishment and it meant my mom wouldn’t have to pay for my college, so that was like the main thing,” Owens said. “I was overwhelmed a little bit, but after that it was back to work because I knew I had to keep working to get more” offers.
Over the years, Gaskin, an Annapolis-born nurse at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, has instilled all the important values in her son: hard work, humility and loyalty.
Owens, who maintains a 3.2 GPA, regularly watches her leave early in the morning and not come home until late at night, working in a profession that is all about caring for others.
He said it’s provided a great lead to follow. Gaskin, who also played high school basketball, gushes.
“LJ is just special,” she said. “I always told him if he did his part, the rest would follow and everything is paying off. I set aside a whole lot, put myself on hold to get what he wanted, but that’s what parents do.”
Owens comes from a family rich in basketball tradition in Annapolis. In addition to his mother’s playing, his father, Londell, who lives in Memphis, Tenn., was a star at Annapolis and played at Kent State. His cousin, Laronja, was a standout guard for Annapolis in the early 2000s.
Owens played other sports while growing up, but always ended up on a basketball court.
At Severn, he immediately showed coach VJ Keith that the Admirals had a special player in the fold when he averaged just under 15 points as a freshman. While the team only won six games that season, a winning foundation was being set with Owens, senior Jermaine Hall and junior guard AJ Burch as cornerstones.
Last season, Owens was named the Capital Gazette’s Player of the Year in Anne Arundel County after leading the Admirals to an 18-10 mark and a second straight trip to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference semifinals. This season, the Admirals are 8-2 with Owens averaging 26.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, three assists and two steals per game.
With his talent, he could have left Severn with a number of schools — mostly in the touted Washington Catholic Athletic Conference — chasing him after his freshman season, or he could just want the ball each time up the floor. Instead, he stayed at Severn and is a team player for the Admirals. Quiet and reserved in his freshman season, he is now a confident vocal leader. He looks for teammates on the floor, cheers for them when he’s on the bench and he knows when it’s time to look more for his shot for the betterment of the team.
“We could put a system in and just let him jack it up and he could be off the charts scoring-wise. But he takes pride in trying to do what we’re doing on offense and he scores within our offense,” Keith said. “It’s been an amazing experience. And it’s permeated throughout our program. That’s how they all play — they’re just humble and it’s been neat to see that they’re all out there looking for each other. It’s been a waterfall effect throughout the team.”
Asked to give her favorite story about her son, Gaskin had a quick response: “All of them are different and all of them are special, and I can’t wait for the next one.”
Owens has one in mind.
Last week before practice, he was chatting with Hall and the special bond was evident. Hall recalled the first time Owens dunked in a game in eighth grade. During some free time a couple of weekends ago, Burch was with them and they made a song. They named it “Fast Cars.”
Owens is confident in the final story he wants to share about playing Severn basketball — winning a championship.
“That’s the ultimate goal and it’s been that way for a couple years,” he said. “Now through experience, we know what we have to do to get there. Coach tells us to take one game at a time, one day at a time really and the dominoes will fall our way if we keep working hard.”
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