Senior guard Lunden Alexander has been a force on the UW-Whitewater Women’s Basketball team since she first joined. She is a steady player on the court and really knows how to show up for and with her teammates. Her playing time increased in her past season, and currently is at the same level, showing her drive and consistency in her role. But being a senior, this truly is the last run for her and she plans to make it count.
Q: What made you choose Whitewater when you were deciding on college?
A: For me, Whitewater isn’t too far from home but it also isn’t too close, so that was a good thing for me. I also researched the team prior to reaching out and the team was very successful as you know. Multiple Final Fours, conference, making it to the tournament year after year. That was enticing because one of my main things about picking a school was I wanted to go somewhere where I could compete for a national championship.
Q: What are your thoughts with this being your last season with the Warhawks?
A: Obviously it’s kind of bittersweet, I mean, I’m happy to have been here for as long as I’ve been here with teammates and friendships that I have made. As far as the basketball career goals, obviously the ultimate goal is to win a national championship so it’s kind of sad that we haven’t done that yet. But that’s the top of the list. So I’m just happy to continue to be able to compete and do what was best for me so far.
Q: So far this season the team is racking up a lot of victories, how is the team dynamic going?
A: I think it’s pretty good. Actually, we have brought in a lot of freshmen so it would have made me think that it was going to be hard to gel with all the personalities that we brought in but we do a lot of things outside of just practice and games, so we’re all connected outside of the game, which I think helps with the way that we play with each other on the court.
Q: As a senior it’s traditionally part of your responsibility to be someone the team and specifically the freshmen look up to, how do you try to live up to that?
A: Yes definitely, as a senior it is my job to be a role model for them. And I think one of the ways to do that is to just always bring energy and effort. It’s everything that we’re doing, even if it’s just a practice, we want to treat it seriously because every game and team is different. It should feel like or be like how we handle it for the real deal. Outside of basketball it’s just about helping the freshmen navigate their way through their first semester of college away from home.
Q: What are your plans for after the season? Do you know what you’re going to do next?
A: Well, after the season finished it is athletic training. I haven’t decided where yet. I plan to look into all of that and explore my options as the season ends.
Q: What does it mean to be a Warhawk and have that environment in athletics?
A: Part of it to me is the winning atmosphere that comes with it, even before this season like not talking about right now obviously, just prior seasons before this. We are just winners within ourselves. As long as I’ve been here that’s just something that embodies Warhawks to me, because even outside of basketball, and all of our other athletic teams are winning in themselves. It just seems to be an attitude or a characteristic that we carry within ourselves. We take a lot of pride in winning, especially home games. We all come out and support each other and the athletics are just a fun atmosphere to be a part of.
Whitewater has been able to take pride in winning just as well as anyone in the nation. They are on a historic winning streak with 17 wins in a row including six against WIAC opponents without suffering any losses. Alexander and the No. 4 Warhawks will defend their home court against UW-Eau Claire Saturday, Jan. 27 at 3 p.m.
