Chapter 4
Nobody Likes Whiners
Arriving at Northwestern and Fighting for Playing Time
For some reason, I was never really bothered by the fact that I was moving to the suburb of Evanston, Illinois (right outside of Chicago, one of the largest cities in the country) by myself when I was 18 years old. Even after growing up in the close-knit, comfortable town of Brunswick, Maine, I wasn’t scared or nervous, and I really was not worried about being homesick. Going off to college was truly a special experience for me, one for which I was ready and eager. I felt as though I’d been sufficiently nurtured by my parents and that I could take on the world. I didn’t cry when my parents dropped me off—even though they did. I had no idea I was supposed to!
I was much more focused on and excited about the athletic and academic challenges that lay ahead of me. One of the reasons I liked Northwestern was the two beaches on Lake Michigan that were almost directly on campus. These lakefront views reminded me of Maine’s awesome bodies of water in a small but significant way that allowed me to feel very much at home.
I met and quickly bonded with some of the players on the Northwestern team during my visit. The team’s best player was Anucha Browne, a girl with a great smile, brilliant sense of humor, and wonderful personality. Connie Erickson was another player who immediately took me under her wing.
The problem I immediately found, however, was that the Northwestern team was guard-heavy—and I was ...
