Unlikely destination

Sophomore Renae Mokrzycki has been excelling at basketball since she was a young girl.

With no plans to pursue it for more than fun, she was quite surprised when she started getting offers to play for colleges in the United States.

Mokrzycki had been playing on leagues in Australia, where’s she from, for years. Between winning awards for her play on the court and her natural talent, Mokrzycki still never saw herself playing basketball at the level she’s at now.

In the spring of 2012, Mokrzycki started hearing from recruiters but didn’t think much of it at the time.

In May of that year she was offered a scholarship with NIC. After doing some research about NIC’s basketball program and academics, she did what she never had plans to do, leave home and go to college.

Three months later, she was on a plane with fellow Aussie and teammate Georgia Stirton, who was also recruited to play for NIC. Having never met Stirton before their plane ride to the United States, the two bonded instantly and now live together with teammate Panisessi Taimani.

After finishing her freshman year at NIC, Mokrzycki saw room for improvement going into her sophomore season. She said she wanted to improve her mentality.

Although she didn’t choose a particular area of her game to work on over her summer break, she went home to Australia and played for fun and got mentally prepared for her upcoming role as a leading sophomore.

“Renae has stepped up into a starting role and has learned how to lead our team by example with her tenacious hard play, scoring and rebounding,” NIC head coach Chris Carlson said.

Mokrzycki spends her limited spare time with second and fifth graders, perhaps thinking about becoming a teacher one day, but for now maintains her focus on the court. Wanting to make a return trip to nationals this year is her main focus.

“Renae brings an all-business attitude and takes the competitive spirit of competition to a beautiful level,” Carlson said.

Mokrzycki will be taking her “all-business attitude” and “competitive spirit” to the University of Idaho next season, as she will be suiting up to play for the Vandals.