Kaela Chapdelaine is this season’s veteran voice.
Beginning in the fall of 2008, Rita Kollo will inherit that role for the Oregon women’s basketball team. Kollo, a transfer from Oklahoma State, will spend the upcoming season making her impact in practices.
It’s an extra helping of experience coach Bev Smith says is welcome on a team with six freshmen.
“She’s… an older player that our younger kids can look up to and emulate and I think off the floor she’s very well organized and she does all the things that an elite athlete does in terms of her nutrition and her training,” Smith said.
Oregon coaches noticed Kollo’s play two years ago.
Kollo was starring in the community college basketball championships in Kansas. But before the Oregon coaches could contact her, she verballed to Oklahoma State and left off limits.
When she decided to leave Oklahoma State after last season, Oregon was ready and waiting. Rollo had known about Oregon through a coach in Hungary who knew Ducks assistant coach Phil Brown.
Rollo is a versatile 6-foot shooting guard who Smith says can score, shoot from long distance, get to the hoop and use a dribble jumper.
“She doesn’t look like an overwhelming physical presence, but she knows how to use her body,” Smith said.
Kollo’s addition also balances out next year’s senior class with her and point guard Tamika Nurse.
Originally from Budapest, Hungary, Kollo began her college basketball career at Colby Community College in Colby, Kan. She set six school records there, including most points in a career with 1,410, before leaving for Oklahoma State.
She put together averages of 3.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists for an Oklahoma State squad that finished 20-11 and 8-8 in the Big 12 Conference.
Now in Oregon green and yellow, Rollo says she’s been impressed with her new teammates, coaches, arena, campus – even the mascot.
“They recruited me earlier before I went to Oklahoma State so I kind of had that in my head,” Kollo said.
Although she says it’s going to be tough sitting out a season, she’ll have a positive attitude and work toward next season while helping the underclassmen. Some of the freshmen are adjusting to life in the United States.
“I experienced how it is to leave home and come to another country – it’s a totally different world,” Kollo said.
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