Wayne State women’s basketball senior guard Lauren Davis is likely to have a very successful career following her Wayne State stint – not as the next phenom of the WNBA, but in the career path she follows and in life.
Davis has already displayed the tenacity it takes to succeed just by the way she ended up at Wayne State on what you might call a road well traveled.
The Loveland, Colo., native graduated from Thompson Valley High School in 2012 and set off to play hoops at the collegiate level, ending up at a junior college in Trinidad, Colo. She played one year before transferring to Gillette, Wyo. to another junior college.
Following her second year at the juco level, she decided to recruit a four-year school to continue playing basketball while getting her education. She did her own recruiting with the assistance of her coach at Gillette, Will Rider.
“I found Wayne State College on the internet and did some research and I knew I wanted to try and land in Wayne if I could because of the tradition of being a national, consistent winner,” Davis said. “I had looked at Chadron State, but I really wanted to get to Wayne so I e-mailed coach Chris Kielsmeier and I sent some tape for him to watch.”
All the 3-guard (position) wanted was a phone call – and it came.
“Coach ‘K’ called me and asked me about myself and then invited me to come and visit the campus and to get in a work out with the team,” the 5-foot-10 guard said. “I loved the campus immediately when I set foot on it and everyone seemed genuinely nice and I felt comfortable.”
Needless to say, Davis fit in right away with the Wildcat family and her work ethic on the court was as solid as the internal fortitude she possessed to get to Wayne State.
“Lauren works extremely hard in practice,” Kielsmeier said. “She gives 100 percent all the time.”
The broadcast communications/electronic media major had applied for an internship last January with Fox Sports as an on-air personality sports reporter. She heard nothing back – until the week of finals last May.
“I was making plans to go back home for the summer and coaching a summer girls eighth grade club team,” she said. “That plan got derailed when I found out I had gotten the internship with Fox Sports Los Angeles.”
Davis was told she would be placed on a show doing behind the scenes work with staff members at the Los Angeles home of Fox Sports.
“I was going to be interacting with on-air talent and I was pretty excited,” she said.
Lauren left the day after she took her last final and was told she would be working with and on the show “America Pre-Game” which is a daily show in Los Angeles which recaps the days sporting events both nationally and regionally.
It was quite the experience as I got to see the stage, learn camera angles from a director and producer standpoint,” Davis said. “I got to sit in on daily meetings and I was the only intern on that show.”
Lauren shared an apartment with three other interns which came from the states of New Jersey, Washington and West Virginia.
“We slept in bunk beds in a very small apartment and still paid $800 a month rent,” she said. “The internship lasted three full months as I got back the weekend before classes started this fall.”
Davis drove the 23-hour trip by herself to Los Angeles.
“It was a very long drive but it’s what I wanted and needed to do to get the experience. You never know when something like this could open a door after graduation.”
She spent some time sightseeing, hiking and going to museums, and she was just five minutes from the beach. She also had a birthday during her time in Los Angeles which was her 21st.
“I would say there were many memories from that experience but I really enjoyed covering a professional golf tournament at Pamona Beach,” Davis added. “I did get to speak on-air which at the time I was in shock. I had the microphone in my hand and all of a sudden they pointed and said ‘You’re on the air.’”
Lauren is hoping she gets lucky enough to get another internship next summer. Based on her journey thus far, playing basketball for three different college teams in three different states, getting to Los Angeles for a select internship program and all on her ability to make things happen on her own, luck won’t have any part of this outcome.
