In Senior Year, Reshard Finds Home at Alabama
2/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Scott Latta
UA Media Relations
Natalie Reshard was a freshman at Seminole Community College in Sanford, Fla., trying to gain experience on the court after a successful high school career at Niceville High School. After being spotted in a camp, she had been called to tryout for coach Lisa Nuxol at Seminole and after a strong performance, Nuxol offered her a scholarship to play the same day, which Reshard accepted.
It was a calculated move for Reshard, designed to let her stay close to home while gaining basketball experience on the college level. Her freshman year at Seminole, she helped lead the team to a runner-up finish in the Mid-Florida Conference and was planning on returning, when she got the news that next July: Seminole was not renewing its athletic program for the following year. If she wanted to continue playing, she would have to go elsewhere.
Reshard had already met the coach and was taking summer classes at Okaloosa-Walton Community College and decided to enroll and play basketball there. She told coach Nuxol not to forget about her.
That season, during one of her games at Okaloosa-Walton, Reshard saw new Alabama coach Stephany Smith sitting in the stands beside a familiar face??it was Lisa Nuxol-Wilson, now an assistant coach at Alabama, who was helping Smith recruit a handful of Reshard’s teammates at Okaloosa-Walton.
Smith left the game impressed by just one of the players she had seen.
“She said something about me and coach Lisa said, ??Well that’s my player from Seminole,’” Reshard said. “They invited me for a visit and I really liked the place.”
Reshard arrived for a visit to the Alabama campus thinking she wouldn’t know anyone in Tuscaloosa. After one visit to Bryant Hall on campus, her thinking changed when she saw Alabama football players DJ Hall and Glen Coffee, both friends from back home.
“I saw them in Bryant,” Reshard said with a laugh, “and was like, ??What’s up?’”
It didn’t take long for Reshard to fit in on her third team in as many years. A self-proclaimed “natural leader,” Reshard said she let her playing do the talking for her that summer in pick-up games on campus with her new teammates.
“That summer we played together a lot and it wasn’t hard to come in and have opinions because you earn your right on the court,” said Reshard, who will earn a degree in business management and hopes to attend graduate school. “I was excited to finally be Division I and I’m a natural leader so I always voice my opinion. It wasn’t necessarily difficult and I enjoyed getting to know all the girls.”
Reshard started her first nine games on her junior year and scored a career-high 12 points in a win over Tennessee Tech during a season in which she saw playing time in all 30 games. Today, she is one of only two seniors on the Alabama squad, bringing leadership, Smith said, to a very young team.
“She’s a senior and brings three years worth of experience to the team,” the Alabama coach said. “She’s a natural leader and one of our most veteran players. She brings such a positive energy to the team and is very vocal. She works hard and that is very encouraging to the rest of her teammates. You never have to worry about her off the court.”
