Being a senior brings with it the added pressures of higher expectations from yourself and others. Yet, being counted on to be a leader for your team game in and game out may be as difficult a challenge as any athlete has to face. For Wisconsin senior posts Emily Ashbaugh and Lello Gebisa, this is more of a privilege than an obligation.
Ashbaugh and Gebisa were named team captains prior to start of the season by Badger head coach Lisa Stone, and with that label came extra responsibilities. Both players have taken the experience in strides, though, and are prepared to lead their team to a winning season.
“Everyone time you step on the floor, you want to be someone the team counts on,” Gebisa said. “As a senior and as a captain, you know you need to be consistent in every game, in scoring, rebounding and in leadership.”
If being seniors were not hard enough, both Ashbaugh and Gebisa have to deal with the expectations that go along with being a tall player. With Gebisa at 6-feet-7, and Ashbaugh not far behind at 6-feet-5, they usually pose quite a height mismatch for their opponents. When stepping on the court, they are expected, especially by fans, to dominate their smaller defenders. Because of their size advantage, opposing teams pack the middle and make it difficult for them to get their shots.
“They are going to pack it in on us and we expect that, but being double- or triple-teamed is nothing foreign to either one of us,” Ashbaugh said. “We’ve been tall our whole lives.”
When both are on the court at the same time, they, along with Lello’s sister Ebba, form the tallest frontline in the Big Ten conference, if not in the country. However, being tall does not automatically bring with it great basketball ability. Hard work and persistence have been key for both Gebisa and Ashbaugh in becoming forces to reckon with down low.
“We’ve both gotten more consistent inside in what we can contribute and in our confidence in each other and this team,” Ashbaugh said. “Obviously there is always room for improvement in maintaining a strong presence and game inside to open up the outside for the guards.”
Ashbaugh and Gebisa will give the Badgers more than size on the court this season. As seniors they both bring experience and maturity to a core of underclassmen that still need guidance to develop as players.
“Being at a big university and a new school is bigger experience for the freshmen, so we are just reassuring them that it’s normal and they’ll be okay,” Ashbaugh said.
With a new coach, everyone began this season as freshmen. Ashbaugh and Gebisa do admit that being seniors has more advantages, especially in knowing how to adjust to the physicality of the Big Ten.
“It is a big difference having a year under your belt,” Gebisa said. “Every time you catch the ball you expect to be shoved and slapped and you know it’s coming.”
Ashbaugh and Gebisa have taken different paths in securing their leadership roles on the Badger team. While friends and teammates now, they were at one time deemed rivals. Ashbaugh, a Woodinville, Wash., native came to Wisconsin as her state’s Gatorade Player of the Year and the only Badger recruit in the Fall of 2000 to play for former coach Jane Albright. Ashbaugh played all 27 games her freshman season in a reserve role, averaging 3.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
Ashbaugh quickly found herself in a starting role the following season after the starting center departed. Since then, she has increased her scoring and rebounding output each season, with a high of 8.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season.
Gebisa hails from West Lafayette, Ind., and in 1999 headed for Duke to play her college basketball. In two years at Duke, Gebisa saw limited playing time in a reserve role and opted to transfer in 2001 to Wisconsin to play alongside her sister Ebba, who would be coming in as a freshman the following season. In her debut for Wisconsin last season, Lello averaged 10 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game. Gebisa and Ashbaugh have also been solid defensively for the Badgers, ranking first and sixth in the Big Ten last season in blocks per game.
In the past four years, there has been a lot of shuffling around between new coaches and assistant coaches for each player. Both have been on opposite ends of the spectrum in knowing what it takes to win and what it feels like to lose. Ashbaugh as a junior, and Lello sitting out as a transfer saw their team rattle off 15-straight wins to achieve UW’s highest ranking in the nation ever at No. 5. Then the bottom began to fall out as Wisconsin finished the 2001-2002 losing 11 of its final 14 games.
Things were not much better last season as Wisconsin could not put together more than a two-game winning streak and finished last season 7-21. As the seniors both agree, there is a greater sense of urgency to do well this season.
“When you’re a senior there is a new sense of urgency that comes over you,” Gebisa said. “Your days are numbered and limited, so every day is a day to better and a chance to take advantage of every day you get.”
When they leave UW after this season, both players hope they have contributed all that they can to the women’s program.
“Everyone wants to leave a program with a solid reputation, and I think Lello and I want to be remembered as posts who handled the pressure and handled the ups and downs,” Asbaugh said. “You want to leave the team with a solid foundation for next year and years to come.”
