By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
GOWER - East Buchanan senior and basketball star Gracie Kelsey had been verbally committed to Drury University women's basketball since last September. She signed with the Panthers on November 29.
Little did Kelsey know, at the time, that Drury's now former coach Amy Eagan would become the new head coach at Division I Lindenwood University this past March.
"She gave us all a call and said, 'I'm going to Lindenwood,'" Kelsey said of her conversation with Eagan. "We all had options. We can stay, we can go, we can find something different. I believe in her and her ability to coach a really good program."
Kelsey made her decision public Tuesday via Twitter, announcing her commitment to the Lindenwood Lions out of St. Charles, Missouri - a school in the Ohio Valley Conference that's still in its first year of DI competition.
Lindenwood women's basketball is now being led by Eagan, who left Drury after three outstanding years as head coach. In three years with the Panthers, Eagan compiled an 87-9 record and won a GLVC Conference title in each of those seasons.
Kelsey is excited to be getting in on the ground floor at Lindenwood - a Lions program that'll be entering its second year of DI competition this fall with a new, up-and-coming head coach at the helm.
"It's an opportunity to do something different and stay with Coach Eagan," Kelsey said. "She was the one who recruited me and believed in me. So, being able to have that trust with one another is super great."
Kelsey goes down in the East Buchanan record books as one of the best basketball players to ever wear the blue and gold. She's the program's all-time leader in rebounding with 1,013. She's also second all-time in scoring with 1,766 points, despite missing her sophomore year with injury.
Still, Kelsey helped lead the Bulldogs to three district titles in the last four years and a state championship in 2020.
"The ability to impact a program and the things that she did for us on both ends of the floor," East Buchanan girls' basketball coach Kori Elms said. "Everyone talks about her offense, but if you look at what she did defensively to alter shots, she just did a nice job on both ends. Her ability to rebound. Those things always stand out, but the one thing that always stands out to me is her ability to be coachable."
Kelsey's senior season ended with a 23-5 record and a close 52-46 loss to South Harrison in state sectionals - a season where Kelsey scoring at least 30 points a night was not uncommon. Elms says her star senior took it all in stride - a characteristic that'll no doubt help Kelsey succeed at the next level.
"As we went into every game, we knew teams would focus on her," Elms said. "I thought she carried herself well as a teammate."
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