Two former USI women’s basketball players were announced as members of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2015 Silver Anniversary Team. Chris May, the executive director for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, said the honor comes out of recognition for the players’ outstanding performance as senior high school basketball players 25 years ago.
The two honorees that were USI graduates were Glenna Bower and Kathy Luack-Scrieber. May said that while neither was chosen as an Indiana All Star during their senior year they both played on outstanding teams and this added to their appeal.
Glenna Bower graduated from New Washington high school, where she led the state in scoring in 1990. She continues to hold the record for points scored in a single game with 54 points.
Bower transferred to USI after spending a year at Eastern Kentucky University. During her time at USI she averaged 11.1 points per game. She also ran cross country and was able to earn two All-Great Lakes Valley Conference honors.
When Bower entered the program, she said the team was in a time where there was a lot to still be done.
“We had to become a team. We had to work together. It was like a rebuilding,” Bower said.
She said being a part of that rebuilding is something she remembers from her time on the team, as well as with the games they won in their conference and the conference championships.
Bower spoke very highly of her time as a student at the university and of the skills she learned.
“I think overall, athletics made an impact on me. In terms of helping me to understand discipline, teamwork, dedication and initiative,” Bower said.
She said what she learned in athletics carried over into her academic life, too. She said that one thing she found important was that she knew her professors and she knew that they knew her.
“If I wanted to contact them, I knew they were going to remember who I was and I definitely remember who they were,” Bower said. “You have to have people that care about you and they do. They did care about me.”
She carried this over into her professional life and said those are the things that stand out the most to her in athletics and in her department.
Bower is currently the assistant dean of the Pott College of Science, Engineering and Education at USI, but she did not move straight from graduation into a position at USI.
Bower graduated midterm and accepted a job in Chicago as a fitness specialist. After a year she moved back to Evansville to work as a fitness consultant at Mead Johnson. She was then offered the opportunity to open the first off-campus fitness center for USI.
She then became director of the Recreation, Fitness and Wellness Center.
Bower went back to school to get her Ph.D. and then accepted a position in the kinesiology and sport department. She became chair of the department as her career moved forward.
Bower said she always liked Evansville and really liked it at USI.
“I’m dedicated to USI and the mission of the university,” Bower said.
She said being named to the team was a special moment.
“It’s a great achievement and it feels good to be recognized and noticed for what you did. I think it goes back to how basketball taught me all these skills and characteristics of moving into being a professional. I worked really hard these last 25 years, and then you get rewarded for what really started your professional life out,” Bower said.
The second recipient was Kathy Lauck-Schreiber, who graduated from Roncalli High School. Where she was a two-time All-City and All-Metro player.
When she came to USI, she was the first women’s basketball All-American, and at the end of her career she was USI’s all time leader in points with 1,573 and 791 rebounds. Currently, she is third in points and fourth in rebounds.
In 1994, she was named first team All-American by both the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and the Division II Bulletin. She was also Great Lakes Valley Conference player of the year in 1994.
She is now a pre-school teacher in Indianapolis, but has stayed in touch with her high school basketball roots. She coached girls basketball at Roncalli from 2001-04 and then again from 2008-13.
The Women’s Silver Anniversary Team will be honored at a banquet in Indianapolis on April 25.