After smoothly releasing the basketball into the air, she watched it sink into the net, echoing a “swoosh” sound that bounced off all four walls of the gym. Junior Holly Lueken stood in the spotlight of the scene, taking in the excitement and satisfaction of scoring the 1,000th point of her basketball career. Following a lifetime of basketball experience, it is achievements like this that have led Lueken to her recent commitment to play Division I basketball at Colgate University after her senior year.

In January, Lueken accepted a full athletic scholarship to play basketball at Colgate University, located in Madison County, New York. Lueken expressed her anticipation to continue her academic and athletic careers at Colgate.

“I’m really excited for just something new. I love traveling and just being that far away. I’m going to miss people, but I’m excited for the new experience,” Lueken said.

Lueken’s basketball journey is years in the making. Lueken, the youngest of four siblings, began playing basketball at five years old, following in the footsteps of her older brothers and sister. Lueken’s father, Paul Lueken, explained how Holly Lueken immediately stood out above the other players her age, literally.

“Holly is tall, but when she was five playing with other kids, she towered over everyone else.  She has an earlier birthday, and therefore, at a young age she was literally a foot taller than everyone else.  She was able to easily get rebounds and get her shot off,” Paul Lueken said.

Holly Lueken’s mother, Mary Beth Lueken, acknowledged her daughter’s immediate drive to succeed at the sport of basketball, even from such a young age.

“She was intense from the beginning. At age five she cried when her brothers’ middle school team lost a game. She wanted more competition, more time on the court, more big kid rules.  Holly was frustrated that kids didn’t take basketball seriously,” Mary Beth Lueken said.

Holly Lueken strengthened her basketball skills throughout her adolescence. Ultimately, she made the DGS varsity girls’ basketball team her freshman year where she plays mainly in the position of a forward.

Since making the team, Head Coach Lindsay Long highlighted how she has seen Holly Lueken grow as a basketball player over the years.

“Holly’s confidence and leadership has grown over the years. She was named captain in her junior year and did an excellent job co-leading our team alongside of Jen Masello. Her confidence and at-will shooting has improved as well,” Long said.

Despite being a natural at the sport, Holly Lueken expressed that at first she questioned whether or not her abilities would lead her to a college career.

“When I was younger, I didn’t know if I was ever going to be good enough, so I kind of just played it by ear, and then I realized I wanted to [play college basketball] in high school,”  Holly Lueken said.

But it is more than just her skill as a player that makes Holly Lueken stand out. When asked what describes Holly Lueken’s attitude towards the sport, her teammate, junior Margaret Greco, found it hard to pinpoint just one quality.

“Wow, where do I start?  Hard working, dedicated, a hustler, role model, leader, focused, driven, inspirational, good sportsman, honest and most of all she is passionate about her sport.  She is the player on the court everyone strives to be,” Greco said.

Aside from her personality on the court, Holly Lueken’s characteristics off the court are something her teammates notice as well. Senior and Holly Lueken’s former co-captain Jennifer Masello highlighted what she admires about Holly’s personality.

“Holly is a very positive and bubbly person.  She’s always smiling and trying to make other people around her happy.  Whenever you’re around Holly she’ll brighten the mood by making jokes or just spreading positive vibes. She’s a very ‘glass half full’ type of personality, and that is very contagious when you’re around her,” Masello said.

Holly Lueken’s talent athletically and value as an individual has paved the road to more than just success in her high school career, it also led her to be looked at by multiple Division I basketball programs, including Colgate University.

After the Colgate coach watched Holly Lueken play in the spring and summer of 2017, he reached out to her over the phone to discuss her future plans and inform her on more of the opportunities that would be offered to her at Colgate. After discovering the school, the Lueken family scheduled a visit to the campus in the fall of 2017.

“I would say the campus was really pretty, and I wanted to go to a small school, but that’s really hard if you want to play Division I, so I really liked that it was that size,” Holly Lueken said.

Initially, Holly Luken was interested in playing at an Ivy League school; however, Ivy League schools cannot give full athletic scholarships, which turned her away from these options. Ultimately, Holly Lueken saw Colgate as a school that could essentially give her the best of both worlds.

Colgate University is relatively small, with a total enrollment of about 2,872 students. With an acceptance rate of 28.7%, Colgate is notorious for its prestigiousness both academically and athletically. Holly Lueken, who excels academically just as much as she does athletically, saw Colgate’s academics as a major contributor to her decision to attend.

“Colgate they call ‘little’ or ‘baby’ Ivy League, so they can still give full athletic scholarships, which is really nice, and then it still has really high academics,” Holly Lueken said.

Despite its academic prestigiousness, Holly Lueken also saw Colgate as a school that would give her a significant amount of playing time right at the start of freshman year, which is an opportunity that may not have been available to her if she attended a larger school.

“I’m excited for Colgate especially because I think that I will be able to play my freshman year whereas if I went to a Big Ten or something, I probably wouldn’t play until like junior or senior year, so I’m excited for that and to get to meet new people,” Holly Lueken said.

With a love for the campus, an offer to play the sport she’s passionate about, and the opportunity to continue her education at a prestigious university, Holly Lueken knew Colgate would be her future home, which is why she decided to commit the middle of her junior year instead of waiting until her senior year like many other collegiate athletes do.

“If you wait, you run the risk of losing the offers that you have, and if I would’ve waited then I might have lost it, but I thought about it and all the schools I was talking to I didn’t like more [than Colgate] so there was no point of waiting really,” Holly Lueken said.

With a full ride scholarship ready for her, Holly Lueken and her friends and family are optimistic about her future at Colgate.

“Holly gives me new reasons to be proud every day,” Mary Beth Lueken said. “I wish [Colgate] wasn’t so far, just so I could go to all the games. Other than that, I know Holly can handle the pressures that come with being far from home at an academically rigorous school and playing basketball.”

Although she will not start her career at Colgate until the fall of 2019, Holly Lueken is eagerly preparing for her future life as a Division I athlete. Soon she will stand in the center of Colgate’s Cotterell Court shooting baskets in a maroon and white raider jersey. Although she will be playing with new teammates and coaches by her side, she can count on hearing the same radiating support of her friends and family cheering her on back home.