“Let’s not call it my last game. This is my first collegiate game.”
Moments after converting the uncontested layup that symbolized her biggest aspiration, Lauren Hill was quick to clarify how that moment would be defined.
The Mt. St. Joseph University freshman scored the first and last baskets of her team’s season-opening 66-55 win over Hiram on Sunday at a sold-out Cintas Center in Cincinnati.
In an interview with Brad Johansen and Debbie Antonelli on Fox Sports Ohio, which carried the game live nationally, Hill demonstrated the poise, wisdom and grace while battling terminal brain cancer that has inspired so many in the sport of women’s basketball and beyond.
Her ultimate wish to play in a college basketball game has been met: “I wanted to wear that jersey and feel like a superhero again.”
But the trail she is blazing to raise awareness of, and research funding for, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma — a rare brain tumor that claims children, usually before the age of 10, and that she was diagnosed with nearly a year ago — will be her most stirring accomplishment.
With jerseys sent in from high school and college teams from around the country, to be auctioned off to raise money, and with women’s basketball royalty and more than 100 credentialed media on hand, Hill continued to embrace the role she’s taken up.
At halftime, she received the Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award, given out by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and our own Mel Greenberg (transcript of his remarks here). To the amazement of many in the house, the legendary Tennessee coach made the trip from Knoxville Sunday morning. Only a few other people knew in advance, since her arrival was meant to be a surprise to Hill.
Tamika Catchings was there too, flying in on a red-eye from California, where she was tending to a family matter, and speaking on Summitt’s behalf, as well as Elena Delle Donne, Delisha Milton-Jones, Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White and former Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson.
Shannon Russell of the Cincinnati Enquirer rounds up everything from the day, noting that more than $40,000 was raised for The Cure Starts Now, the foundation devoted to researching pediatric brain cancer that Hill and her family have been working with.
Also on the scene were Alyssa Roeinigk of espnW and ESPN‘s Tom Rinaldi.
Reaction from around the country has been pouring in all week, and continued after Hill’s game, including from Xavier men’s coach Chris Mack, the father of two young daughters and who helped make Sunday’s event possible.
Said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, to reporters after the Huskies’ exhibition win on Sunday:
“The story is, ‘How in God’s name does this kid handle it the way she’s handling it?’ That’s the story for me. Not that God dealt a bad hand, it’s what she’s done with that hand.”
Indeed, it has been Hill’s plain-spoken eloquence that has been as impressive and inspiring as anything:
“I’ve never felt so good in my entire life.”
