Getting Back On Track Lampson Hooks Up With - Gonzaga - After Frustrating Stay In Santa Barbara
GU women’s preview
When she looks around the court, Carmel Lampson sees her basketball past. There’s Sydney Perno, Chelsea Clark and Holly Bruno, all teammates and friends from her AAU Spokane Stars days.
She’s also looking into her basketball future as one of the newest members of the Gonzaga women’s basketball team.
“I’ve known some of these players for years,” said Lampson. “Syd, Holly (formerly Turner), Chelsea Clark, Kristin Deal. …”
Lampson, the 1996 Big Nine Conference player of the year from Kamiakin, left Washington after high school for the inviting lifestyle of a UC Santa Barbara scholarship athlete. Problem was, Lampson did not fit into the team’s big picture.
The 5-foot-9, left-handed shooting guard said she was prepared to sit her first year behind Erin Alexander - now in the WNBA - among others. But she wasn’t prepared to play less than 5 minutes a game her sophomore year. She didn’t take the disappointment well.
“I got burned out,” Lampson explained. “My confidence was down. I got sick and I was homesick. I didn’t eat right.”
She allowed her weight to drop from her ideal 150 pounds to about 132, all this going on during basketball season.
“I loved Santa Barbara… . the 70-degree weather every day,” said Lampson. “And my teammates, we got along great. Everything aside from basketball was good.”
Lampson made a decision after her sophomore year not to return to Santa Barbara. She asked UCSB coach Mark French to release her, and off she went to Kennewick.
Continuing her education in the Tri-Cities was not Lampson’s idea of college life. Her plan was to move in with her sister in Spokane.
“It was kind of a pride thing,” Lampson explained. “I didn’t want to go to the community college in Tri-Cities. I was lucky because my sister goes to law school here.” Gonzaga coach Kellee Barney said she feels like the lucky one. After going after Lampson as a high school player, all of the sudden, here she was playing pick-up games at Gonzaga.
“We’d see her a lot on campus,” Barney said. “I asked her, `Carmel, how would you like to play basketball again?’ It was kinda of something, we didn’t pursue. It’s working out great.”
Lampson, now an American studies major at Gonzaga, has not broken into the starting five on the team that’s considered Barney’s deepest in six years. GU returns 11 players including all five starters.
Lampson’s weight is back to 150, but she missed most of the conditioning season because she was recovering from mononucleosis. The team also is loaded at guard beginning with returning starters Bruno, Jessica Waltz and guard/forward Jessica Malone. Senior Tennille Jeffries and freshman Erin Bergman also are pushing the starters. But Lampson will get her minutes, Barney said.
“I consider myself lucky to have her because Carmel is such a deep, deep shooting threat. And she can play the point,” Barney said.
Lampson undoubtedly will be looking to get her minutes on Dec. 30 when Gonzaga plays host to No. 12 UC Santa Barbara . The Gauchos also will play at Washington State on Dec. 28 as part of former Mead star Stacy Clinesmith’s homecoming.
And once again, Lampson will be surrounded by players from her past.
“I’m excited because I’m going to see my friends and it’s a great opportunity for us to play such a high-caliber team.”