Seekamp ends college basketball career successfully

For the second year in a row, the Coyote women’s basketball team has won the Summit League Championships. At the top of the leading scorers list sits senior guard Nicole Seekamp, who’s contributed a significant amount to the success of the team.

Among multiple other accomplishments, Seekamp is ranked as second in all-time scoring for USD. During the 2015-2016 regular season, Seekamp averaged 16.1 points, 6.3 assists and 2.8 steals. Seekamp is the only player in the nation with these averages. Additionally, Seekamp earned her seventh Summit League Women’s Basketball Player of the Week award.

Seekamp’s recent accomplishments come after an already long basketball career for the Renmark, South Australia native. Seekamp began playing when she was “quite young.” Her father taught her how to play at the age of 5. At 8 years old, she began practicing with a sanctioned team.

“I think it was clear I was good at basketball when I was about 13. I would drive at least an hour to play and my parents had to drive a very long way for me to practice,” she said. “I think that was probably because they wouldn’t have put a whole lot of time if I was terrible at it.”

While Seekamp’s main focus was basketball, she also participated in volleyball and netball, a popular Australian sport similar to basketball. Seekamp ultimately pursued basketball when she committed to play for USD in 2011. Many factors went into her decision to come to school in the U.S., but she first got the idea from her older brother.

“My brother, when he was younger, could have played basketball in the U.S., but he stayed behind to be closer to friends and family,” Seekamp said. “After that, I started thinking about doing it myself.”

After deciding to go to school in America, USD became her top choice for multiple reasons.

“I loved the coaches and the people and it felt like it was a really good fit for me,” Seekamp said. “There isn’t one thing in particular, but I love playing at home and the crowd cheering and the atmosphere.”

While playing college basketball at the Division I level has had its perks, Seekamp said she initially struggled with being so far away from home.

“Being so far away from home and being with much older girls I was extremely homesick,” she said. “I didn’t take as many opportunities at the beginning as much as I could have.”

Although the regular basketball season is over, Seekamp and the Coyote women’s basketball team are the No. 1 seed in the Summit League Tournament. Winning there will send the Coyotes onto the NCAA Tournament. After the tournament, Seekamp will be finished with college basketball.

Seekamp said she doesn’t plan to stop playing the sport that has brought her so much success, and hopes to continue her basketball career with the WNBA. The 2016 WNBA draft will be held on April 14.

If Seekamp isn’t drafted, she plans to travel overseas, either to Europe or back to Australia.