Megan Lindman

By Sarah Packingham
UWRF Sports Information

For UW-River Falls senior Megan Lindman, basketball isn't just something she's involved in, it's a way of life.

Lindman, who grew up in Rochester, Minn., and played for Rochester Mayo High School, has been playing basketball for practically as long as she can remember.

"I've pretty much been playing it for my whole life," Lindman said. "My grandparent's friend said I was tall and said that I should play basketball so I did."

Playing basketball is one of the main reasons Lindman chose to attend River Falls. When choosing where to go for college, she had to choose between UW-Eau Claire and UWRF. She chose River Falls after feeling that Head Coach Cindy Hovet did the best job recruiting her and made her feel welcome in the River Falls environment.

Here at River Falls Lindman is working on her degree in broad area English and will be certified to teach English in grades 6-12. Although she is a senior on the basketball court, Lindman will not graduate until May 2008. She will finish up classes in December of 2007 and student teach in the spring before she graduates.

Since she is an English major, Lindman likes to spend her spare time relaxing by reading and writing. But she also likes to shop and sing. In fact, before Lindman came to River Falls she used to sing in church choirs and school choirs as well.

"I used to sing a lot, but since I got here with basketball I just haven't had the time," Lindman said.

Even though basketball doesn't give Lindman all the spare time in the world, the positives surely outweigh the negative of time.

"It definitely helps you manage your time," she said. "And all my best friends are on the team. I wouldn't have met them if I hadn't been on the team."

This season, the women's basketball team is going to be a force to be reckoned with and Lindman is just one of the players who will help lead the players off and on the court. Following last season, the Falcons only lost two seniors and they got another player back, so they're fairly even to where they were last year.

"We're a really talented team," Lindman said.

She went on to talk about how the team isn't just going to be relying on the five starters this season. All the players up and down the bench will be a factor in the team's success and Lindman will be along to do her best, wherever she can.

Currently, they have started the season off at 3-0, including a season opening win against Hamline (76-51) and doubled up on Augsburg (80-40).

"Megan's a tremendous athlete and that's clear day in and day out," Hovet said. "We're looking forward to her having an explosive season."

 On Sunday, Lindman scored a career high 27 points in a 58-48 win over St. Thomas, demolishing her previous high of 20.

"I didn't really know how many points I had," Lindman said of the game. "It was definitely exciting to do that well. It was good to do well against such a tough team."

"She really had a breakout game, it was an excellent all around game," Hovet said. "As coaches that's how we expect her to play. She's going to be a huge force in the conference."

Lindman is the team's leading scorer with a 14.3 points per game average. Throughout her career she has been a dominating payer in the defensive end of the court. She is an intimidating player who has outstanding shot blocking skills. She has led the Falcons in blocks the past two seasons with 24 in 2006 and 35 in 2005. She currently has 87 career blocks and needs just 16 more   to set a Falcon career record.