The Bowdoin Orient

March 9, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 19

Senior Spotlight: Lauren Myers

by HENRY COPPOLA, STAFF WRITER

   Thanks to the success this season of the women's basketball team, this spotlight athlete will still be in season when you read this. Senior tri-captain Lauren Myers is under the spotlight this week as she helps lead the most successful Bowdoin team ever. "Lauren's leadership this season has been a big part of our success.," according to head coach Stefanie Pemper who had nothing but good things to say about Myers.
   Myers has helped guide the Bears to a 21-7 record, the most wins ever for a Bowdoin squad, and NCAA victories over Eastern Connecticut and Salem State (for more on the team see the women's basketball article).
   Tonight the Bear's will be taking the court at New York University in a sweet-sixteen match-up that Myers hopes won't be her last: "I am lucky to have had my senior season extended a couple of weeks, and hopefully one more. Being in the Sweet Sixteen is a great honor, but we are definitely not stopping there."
   How'd Lauren get to this point though? I'm glad you asked. Myers first picked up the roundball at age eleven for her church league team in South Boston. She says her love of basketball wasn't solidified until she joined a local AAU team at 13. That team went to the national tournament and according to Myers "from then on I knew that basketball was the sport that I wanted to pursue." Growing up in Boston Myers rather naturally was, and still is, a Celtics fan, from games at the Garden when she was little to the poster of her favorite player, Larry Legend, that still hangs on her wall.
   Like most athletes, or anyone who plays sports at all, Myers is rather superstitious, her favorite one started years ago: "I have a lucky hair tie that I got when I was 13. Until last season I had worn it in every game I played in from that time. However, I was forced to retire it because it had taken quite a beating, but I still bring it to every game."
   Since her arrival at Bowdoin Myers has been under the tutelage of Coach Pemper. Myers credits her coach with helping her grow as a person as well as a player; "yes, she has helped me to become a better player, but more importantly, she has helped me to learn a lot about myself and about life in general." Basketball has played a big role in Myers' time at Bowdoin, she points to it as one of the highlights of her Bowdoin experience, relishing her time with teammates and the experience in general.
   Said Myers "I have been able to play with some of the most amazing teammates, and share great experiences with them off and on the court…Being an athlete here at Bowdoin has definitely enriched my college experience."
   As for her time after Bowdoin, Myers isn't sure what she'll do yet, although she says she wouldn't mind doing a little traveling first. Regardless of whether she has a game to suit up for next week Myers says that she "could have never asked for a better way to end my career."

Lauren Myers, always on the move.
(Henry Copolla/The Bowdoin Orient)