In her two seasons at Umpqua Community College, Kristi Fallin learned the basics of an up tempo rotation. The junior from Roseburg is hitting the ground running, establishing herself as a go-to bench player in head coach Paul Westhead’s rotation. Fallin had a breakout game on Jan. 16 against Arizona, scoring 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting (4-6 from three-point range) in the Ducks’ 119-112 loss. The Emerald recently caught up with the junior college transfer to see how her first season of Division I basketball is going.
Oregon Daily Emerald: What’s your major?
Kristi Fallin: Psychology.
ODE: What would you like to do with your degree?
KF: Child psychology. But my family’s kind of a military family, so I’m thinking about just joining the military after I graduate. It depends with basketball — if I get offers to go play (professionally), I’ll go play because basketball’s all I do. It just depends. When the time comes, I’ll figure it out.
ODE: What is your family’s military background?
KF: My father was in the Marine Corps, my brother is in the Marine Corps, my grandpa was in the Army, my uncles are in the Navy … just everywhere. My cousins are in the Navy, the National Guard, everything … it’s kind of bound to happen.
ODE: Any branch of the armed forces you’d prefer over the others?
KF: No, I’ll just kind of look over things. Whatever happens, happens.
ODE: According to your goducks.com profile, your celebrity crush is Kobe Bryant.
KF: Oh my gosh, yes. I’m obsessed with Kobe.
ODE: Are you a Los Angeles Lakers fan or more of a Kobe Bryant fan?
KF: Big Lakers fan, too. Everyone thinks it’s so funny … I’ve grown up in Oregon all my life, and I’m not a Blazers fan at all. Like, I’ve gone up to Blazer games just so I can watch Kobe play.
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