Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
She banks shot after shot on the far court at Krepps Park. The boys on the other end –whose hapless shots teeter on the rim and spill over – stop dribbling long enough to watch her. She’s good. She’s tall. She’s got a guy with a video camera following her around. She must be somebody.
“Who is that?” one finally asks.
That’s Liz Repella.
And she is somebody. She’s a junior, starting guard on the WVU women’s basketball team and she’s quickly becoming the face of the team. Last season, she led the Mountaineers in scoring and rebounds and helped them advance to the second round of the WNIT. This summer, her prowess on the court, combined with her achievements in the classroom and community, earned Repella the 2008-2009 Big East Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award.
She has trouble remembering the title – “Do you really want me to say all that?” – but she knows what the award means: Someone has been paying attention to her brains and her court presence.
And that’s pretty satisfying, considering what it takes to keep her 3.94 GPA.
Repella doesn’t get a break in the classroom just because she has a pretty jump shot. She doesn’t get a day off after a big win. Last season, when she returned from an away game at Georgetown University at 2 a.m., she still had to get up the next morning, take two exams and go to practice.
What the cynics say is right: athletes aren’t regular college students. Their time is tightly managed. They run from the court to the weight room to the buses to the games, grabbing what moments they can for their classes and themselves.
All of which makes Repella’s rise from a scrappy, off-the-bench freshman and pre-pharmacy major to team leader and future physical therapist all the more impressive.
In the beginning
The scouting reports all used the same word: aggressive.
As a high schooler, Repella wasn’t afraid to play confrontational defense or drive to the basket. She ended her career with more than 2,000 points, a stellar academic record and a handful of top programs vying for her services. Morgantown’s geography – it was close to her Steubenville, Ohio, home – and Coach Mike Carey’s intensity pushed WVU into the top spot.
During her freshman year, injuries to some of the team’s top players forced Repella into a featured role on a team packed with talented seniors, and she responded with everything the scouts predicted she would: athleticism, passion and ferociousness.
She played in 32 of their 33 games that season, swiped 26 steals and went to the NCAA tournament.
Off the court, life wasn’t as orderly.
She’d entered the University as a pre-pharmacy major, but the rigorous schedule required of the program’s students refused to mesh with basketball. Classes and practice were held at the same time. Games interfered with the hours she needed to study.
Eventually, she had to give up pharmacy.
So she chose exercise physiology instead, a major that let her remain in the health care field and gave her several options for the future. Right now, she’s set on physical therapy because she believes it will allow her to do what WVU has taught her is important – to give back.
Since joining the Mountaineer family, she’s led fitness hour at the Boys & Girls Club, worked with disabled kids at Stepping Stones and with ailing kids at Children’s Hospital. She likes that she’s able to reach out to the community that has embraced her.
And she likes the idea that, when basketball is a memory and the cheering stops, her ability to impact the community doesn’t have to.
It all pays off in the end
Liz Repellaaaa!
This year, when Repella is called to the court at home games, she’ll jog onto it with the confidence of a senior because, honestly, that’s what she feels like now.
Her second year as a Mountaineer – when she stepped into a starting position and leadership role – taught her that being a successful basketball player for WVU isn’t only about shots made and rebounds grabbed. It’s about maturity and community service. It’s about good grades and good behavior.
She’s reminded of it when she sees the young girls who want to emulate her waving homemade signs in the stands and calling her name.
She’s reminded of it at summer conditioning, when the new recruits watch her to see how hard she runs in the 83-degree weather.
And she’s reminded of it when she’s chosen for the Big East Scholar-Athlete award over every other women’s basketball player in the conference.
On one hand, she’s honored. On the other hand, she’s earned it.
“I know what I’m capable of doing and I think doing anything less – what does that say about yourself?” she asks. “I always like to go above and beyond, especially in academics. If I know I can get an A in the class, I’m not going to settle for a B.”
“It’s a huge commitment,” she says, “but I think it does pay off in the end.”
-WVU-
aj/08/18/09
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