Lorain Truesdale

By DAVID HAYS
Lander Sports Information

The name of one of the greatest players in Lander women's basketball history moved back to the forefront this season and Lorain Truesdale doesn't mind the circumstances.

Truesdale played with the Lander Lady Senators from 1989-93 and owned the school record for most career points with 1,474.

But the countdown to the end of Truesdale's record started early in this 2010-2011 season, and Shannon McKever passed the mark on Jan. 19, 2011.

"That was good," Truesdale says of McKever breaking her record. "I am proud of her and her accomplishments. I know that it means a lot to her now and it will in the future to be able to look back and see what she has accomplished."

With McKever winding up with 1,744 career points, Truesdale says, "it shows the hard work that she put into basketball and into the Lander program. And it's great for her to see the outcome of the hard work."

Truesdale, pictured at right with McKever, was finally able to meet McKever on Senior Day at the Lander game Feb. 26.

Truesdale, a 1993 Lander graduate who is a surgical technologist at St. Francis Hospital in Greenville, is also quite proud of the team's accomplishments. Included are back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 appearances and a No. 1 national ranking this winter. The Lady Bearcats posted a school-record 29 victories in 2010-2011.

"It's great to see the team do well, and individuals also doing well. I am proud of the team," she says.

The Lady Bearcats were ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN poll for four weeks, with their reign ending with a heart-breaking 83-81 loss at then No. 2 Clayton State on Feb. 10.

"That was really great," Truesdale says of the No. 1 ranking. "And they didn't just get there. They stayed for a while. That was exciting."

Truesdale starred at Andrew Jackson High School in Kershaw, S.C., before joining the Lander program. Her best collegiate year was 1992-93, her senior season, when the 5-foot-10 post player averaged a school-record 22.9 points per game.

Only Tiara Good has challenged that record, scoring 21.9 points per game in 2006-07. And Truesdale is happy to still have this record.

"I am not going to say never. But it's cool that the record is still there. I just don't want them all broken at the same time or in the same season," Truesdale said, laughing.

Truesdale still owns several school records, including points in a single game (41), rebounds in a game (25), and rebounds per game for a season (15.5).

But her career started fairly slowly at Lander, where she scored 147 points as a freshman and 229 as a sophomore. She finished her career scoring 595 points (in 26 games) as a senior.

"That first year, maybe I was more timid," Truesdale recalls. "Maybe I didn't get enough playing time to show my skills. I don't know what it was that made the coach recognize that I had the talent. I began to earn more playing time, and from there it just grew."

Truesdale was both All Peach Belt Conference and Lander team MVP during her junior and senior seasons when she averaged double-doubles, including 17.9 points and 12.3 rebounds in 1991-92, and leading the Peach Belt with 22.9 points and 15.5 boards per game in 1992-93. She made the Southeast All-Regional team her senior year.

Truesdale finished her career with 1,474 points, 598 field goals, 1,055 rebounds (9.9 rebounds per game), and 135 blocked shots. She played for head coach Katrina Sacoco her first two years at Lander and Anne Williamson her last two. She was inducted into the Lander Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.

Truesdale graduated from Lander with a degree in interdisciplinary studies. She then tried her hand as a basketball coach, being an assistant junior varsity coach at Berea High School and Wade Hampton High School in the Greenville area.

"I tried to see what it would be like to be an assistant coach and possibly a head coach," she recalls. "But it didn't work out. I don't know if it (coaching) is my calling."

So she went back to school in 2000, studying at Greenville Technical College to become a surgical technologist.

After working in the customer service field for a few years, Truesdale has been a surgical technologist at St. Francis for four years. She recently became the hospital's second recipient of the Employee of the Month Award.

A surgical technologist is part of the team providing surgical care to patients in a variety of settings. Surgical technologists help ensure that the operating room or environment is safe, that equipment functions properly, and that the operative procedure is conducted under conditions that maximize patient safety.

"Every day is a learning experience. You can never know too much," she says.

Truesdale looks back fondly at her career at Lander, which includes two winning seasons (16-11 in 1989-90, and 20-8 in 1990-91).

"It was fun. I think that makes a difference when you are doing something that you enjoy," she says. "We know we have to be disciplined, with the conditioning, etc., all the things that come with practices. Not every day is a game. But we had fun in practices. I enjoyed it even more because of the people that were around me."