Former women hoopsters return for alumni game
April Cooper’s trip down Memory Lane came at the front end of a 3-on-2 fast break.
Cooper, whose 19.5 points per game average in 1984 is the single-season record for Utah State women’s basketball, returned to the Spectrum Saturday with other former Aggies for the first alumni game played since the women’s program was discontinued in 1987.
While the players had to shake off a little rust – at least 16 years have passed since any of them had put on a USU uniform – the former Aggies showed that they still remember what to do when they stepped on the court.
The game was a very informal affair, with players playing to the crowd as much as to each other, responding to cat-calls from the sparse crowd of family and friends, and took their time shooting foul shots so the others could take a breather.
But in all the joking and sometimes sloppy play, the women demonstrated skills the casual fan would have thought they had forgotten by now.
Back-door passes, setting screens, reverse layups, taking charges, good ball movement.
Their coaches would have been proud, as well as those who went on to become coaches themselves.
It brought back memories for Cooper, who lives in Wellsville, not all of them pleasant.
Running up and down the stairs in the Spectrum, for instance.
The best parts about participating in the game Saturday were the memories and the associations, seeing women she played with at USU, she said.
“It’s kind of fun to think about those years,” she said. “I may never get them back, but I can still enjoy them.”
Returning for the game was “exciting, nervous at the same time,” she said.
The week of the game was a little embarrassing, Cooper said, because the assistant principal at Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum where she teaches heard about the alumni game on the radio and knew that she had played. He let everyone know she was going to be participating. Several teachers from the school brought signs – “Go April” – to support Cooper, who has taught at Mountain Crest for 18 years.
Her husband Lynn, her 10-year-old son and her best friend were also there.
She didn’t let them down.
Cooper scored the first four points in the game and was its high scorer according to an unofficial count.
“As you can tell, I like to shoot,” she said. “I’ve never been one to be afraid to shoot.”
Cooper’s basketball experience didn’t end when she left Utah State. She coached girl’s basketball at Mountain Crest for 12 years, as well as serving as an assistant coach on the volleyball team. She teaches sociology, psychology, history and English as a second
language.
“I love the kids,” Cooper said. “High school is just a fantastic time because they’re becoming adults. It’s fun, I have lots of friends.”
Cooper also played in recreational leagues to keep up her basketball skills until about three years ago.
“The sad thing is as you get older, your mind gets sharper actually, but your body doesn’t go along with it,” she said. “Some of those ladies [at the alumni game] were amazing. I just thought, ‘Wow.’ Some of them, it had been about 35 years since they had been [at Utah State].”
Women’s basketball was discontinued at USU two years after she left, and Cooper was excited for its return.
“I just thought that the girls around here need to have role models,” she said.
Cooper grew up in Layton watching women’s basketball games at Weber State.
“It made me want to be a basketball player,” she said. “And I knew that if I worked hard enough, maybe I could have a chance. I think our girls around here need that, too. They need to see a team of Division I girls play.”
Emily Williams, who played at Utah State from 1969 to 1973, before the program was affiliated with the NCAA, said
she was grateful for the chance to play organized basketball.
“It was absolutely fantastic,” she said. “Most of us didn’t have programs in high school, so this was our first opportunity to play in an organized situation.”
Williams, who lives in Avon, didn’t play in the alumni game but watched from the crowd. She said she felt bad that USU’s program was discontinued for a while, but she came back to see the first game this season.
“We’re just tickled to death that they’re doing it now,” Williams said.
Williams also continued her connection to women’s basketball by coaching basketball at one of the first high schools to offer a girl’s program.
Another player who returned to participate in the game was Rachelle Hanks, who played on the 1987 team that was the last to play before this year.
“It was fun to be back, fun to bring my kids and fun to see a couple of the old players,” she said.
Hanks echoed Williams and Cooper, who mentioned traveling with the team as one of their favorite memories of playing at Utah State.
-royburton@cc.usu.edu