Women's basketball: Native Georgian took a chance on Hamline
All-MIAC women's basketball player came to Hamline for 'good character.'
Hannah Rael
Issue date: 1/26/10 Section: Sports
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With her humble attitude, however, it would be uncharacteristic to brag about the feat.
"I'd rather be a team player than a stand-out," she said.
Before attending Hamline, Wilkowski had only lived south of the Mason-Dixon line. She was born in San Antonio, where her father was based with the Air Force.
Her family relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia when he got a job at the University of Virginia and about ten years later they moved to Savannah, Georgia where she attended middle school and high school.
With the exception of her mother, all of Wilkowski's immediate family has played basketball, including her younger and older sisters.
Wilkowski said her dad played basketball for Carleton when he was in college. He was a key influence in her and her two sisters' interest in the sport.
"He definitely taught us at an early age," Wilkowski said. "[We] spent a lot of hours in the driveway. He's a total goofball, he just loved to play with us."
Although she had been shooting baskets since she was five, Wilkowski said she did not play on a team until fourth grade at a nearby YMCA.
"I was scared to play. My sisters and I were kind of shy," she said. "There was enough of us to just play with each other instead of play organized sports."
As an eighth grader, she was invited to play on the St. Andrews high school varsity team. She always had a sister as a teammate and for two of her five years on the team all three of the Wilkowski sisters played together.
During that time she said the team was very successful and won the AA private school league state championship in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
"That was quite an era," said Wilkowski, "it was a pretty small high school, it was fun to win."
As college application time approached, Wilkowski considered Hamline alongside others including Trinity University in San Antonio and the University of Florida.
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