April 28, 2009

With one of the sweetest strokes from behind the three point arc in the college game, Emily Spickler capped off her two-year career at Lamar University with a record setting senior season. For her efforts, Spickler will be honored on Wednesday night, April 29th along with fellow seniors Nikki Williams and Agnija Reke at the Lady Cardinal women's basketball banquet.

The Salina, Kan. native spent the majority of the 2008-09 season as the NCAA leader in three point shooting percentage, knocking down the long range shots at a blistering rate. After a 7-7 performance at Texas A&M Corpus Christi on January 21 and a 3-5 effort against Texas State, Spickler sat at 57.7 percent.

As opposing defenses adjusted to slow down Spickler, her shot attempts began to diminish, but her accuracy remained intact. She finished the season with a 49.2 three point shooting percentage, draining 58 of her 118 triples for the year.

"Without question, without hesitation, and without a doubt, Emily is the best shooter that I have ever coached in 35 years of walking the sideline," Lady Cardinals head coach Larry Tidwell said. "But, there is so much more to Em's game than just shooting. She is another coach on the floor as her game savvy and court awareness is second to none. Plus, like fellow senior class members Nikki and Agnija, she is first class on and off the court and has represented the Lady Cards well on our campus and in the community."

Her 49.2 percent effort for the season would have ranked tops in the country, but NCAA guidelines require a player to average a minimum of two made three pointers per game to remain in to ranking. She just missed the NCAA mark, averaging 1.87 made per game.

In the Southland Conference rankings Spickler had no minimums to meet and no player in the league came close to matching up with her. She finished the season 10 points higher than the second-best three point shooter in the conference, who had 39.5 percent efficiency from the arc. She also finished fifth in the league in three's made, while leading the Lady Cardinals in both categories.

For her career, Spickler finished fourth on the school's all time three point field goals made list with 100, while owning a career mark of 43%+ from beyond the arc.

"It's cool to have my name in the record books," Spickler said. "It will be fun someday to show my kids that I was a player. I can prove to them that I was good. I won't just be making things up. I have the proof that I could shoot."

With her playing career wrapped up, Spickler plans to get her masters degree at Lamar, while serving as an assistant coach for the Lady Cardinals next year. Not putting on a uniform anymore will be a change, but she looks forward to the challenges that are ahead of her.

"When our final game was over, I was kind of in shock," she said. "I never thought that would happen. Basketball has been such a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. It's going to be a lot different now. I'm not sure what to expect, but it's going to be exciting and I look forward to gaining experience on the sidelines. "