By Mark Gregory
Editorial Director
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglenewspapers.com
The Lewis University women’s basketball team is less than a month away from the trip of a lifetime for its players.
The team will travel to Paris, France for a 10-day experience that will feature a pair of basketball games, exposure to a different culture and class credit.The student-athletes will learn about Lewis University and its founder, John Baptist De La Salle.
“It is academically centered and they get to learn about Lewis, a place they are spending every day of their lives,” said Lewis coach Sam Quigley Smith. “This is truly a once in a lifetime experience for our student athletes in which they are learning about the mission of Lewis University.”
The academic side of the trip in part is thanks in part to Lewis University’s Study Abroad and Dr. Dennis Cremin, who has worked with the Flyers in numerous in class sessions and online discussions and will travel with the team.
In efforts to not have the players responsible for any cost associated with the trip, the program has been working on several fundraisers over the past year and have raised a significant dollar amount to date — but there is still more needed.
Saturday, May 4 at Lewis University, the program is hosting what it hopes to become an annual 5K walk/run on campus
The “Fly for the Roses” 5K begins at 8 a.m. and costs $30 for adults and $15 for children 14 years old or younger.
All participants get a T-Shirt at registration and walk-ups will be accepted.
The trip will also serve as the final games for graduating seniors, such as Jessica Kelliher — one of the top players in the history of NCAA Division-II.
She was named the D2CCA Women’s Basketball Ron Lenz National Player of the Year in March. This season she averaged 24.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, leading the Flyers to a 27-5 record. She led the country in field goal percentage (65.9 percent). She finished her career having scored the fifth-most points in DII history with 2,764 and also surpassed the 1,000-rebound milestone during the season. Kelliher is the 33rd player in Division II history to surpass 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Her 1,093 career field goals made are second-most in Division II history. Kelliher’s 2,764 points is currently second among active players in Division I, II and III while her career field goal percentage of 64.8 percent is fifth among active players in all three Divisions
“There is a new NCAA rule that lets seniors go on overseas trips,” Quigley Smith said. “The seniors that graduate in a couple weeks are able to play — they get one last game and its under the Eiffel Tower.”