North Central College Athletics

One of the most decorated careers in the history of the North Central College women's basketball program came about as a last-second decision. Amanda Orsburn's '02 late change of course wound up steering her to the short list of the Cardinals' all-time greats.

Initially planning to attend nearby Aurora University, where coach Linda Olson had been recruiting her, Orsburn decided to head to Naperville after Olson was hired as North Central's new head coach in fall 1997.

"Until three weeks before school started, I had been planning on going to Aurora to play for (Olson)," Orsburn says. "At the last minute, she got the job at North Central I saw the campus, and I just loved the campus."

Even before developing into the player who would become the cornerstone of the Cardinals' game plan for her final three years in uniform, Orsburn knew she had made the right decision. She was tutored by a coaching staff who had her best interests at heart in all facets of collegiate life.

"(Olson) really cared about her players," Orsburn says. "She and the other coaches would keep you in line, they'd be quick to tell you if you were doing something wrong. You knew they cared about you as a person just as much as they cared about you as an athlete."

Orsburn cracked the starting lineup midway through her freshman season before emerging as one of the top players in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) as a sophomore. She averaged 18.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, leading the CCIW in both categories in conference play and was named to the All-CCIW First Team.

As a junior, she again made the All-CCIW First Team and received Honorable Mention All-America honors from the Division III News after putting up 18.5 points per game (leading the CCIW in scoring for the second straight year) and setting a North Central single-season record with 203 free throws attempted.

Orsburn capped off her career with an even more impressive senior campaign, scoring 21.5 points per contest (the second-highest, single-season average in the Cardinals' history) and setting single-season records for free throws made (174) and attempted (267) while also establishing North Central's current single-game scoring record with a 39-point effort against Carthage College. She was named the CCIW's Player of the Year following her senior season, making her one of only two players in the North Central program to be so honored.

"I can't credit my teammates enough," Orsburn is quick to point out. "Basketball is as much of a team sport as anything, especially if you're a forward. I don't get the ball in a scoring position if I don't have guards who can get it to me, and I had some really good ones in Danielle Howell '02, Kris Kalivas '98 and Kristi Donovan '02, to name a few. They were very unselfish, considering most college teams are made up of players who were stars on their own high school teams."

The strong team dynamic fostered in the basketball program led Orsburn to volunteer in an unexpected fashion in fall 2001, as North Central's women's soccer coach Jason Hunter (also an assistant coach with the women's basketball program) inquired about her interest in serving as the Cardinals' goalkeeper. Despite lacking any previous experience in the sport, Orsburn embraced the challenge and wound up setting the current North Central record for saves in a season (207) and contributing to six victories.

The Cardinals' all-time leader in free throws made (489) and attempted (748) and the program's third all-time leading scorer (1,591 points), Orsburn also ranks in North Central's career top 10 in eight other categories. When looking back, however, she has a much greater appreciation for the structure athletics provided to her education and the strong support from her parents, Leroy and Connie Orsburn, made it possible. "I have the best parents you could imagine. They worked and they sacrificed to help pay my tuition and they hardly missed a game. That's really tough to do on the college level. When you're in college, you don't appreciate those things nearly as much as you should, but hopefully you do later.

"And if it wasn't for basketball, I never would have graduated. Basketball was what kept me on track. You had to get the grades to keep playing, and you become instantly bonded to the people on your team."