Lizzie Oleary kept her commitment to the University of Delaware when the basketball coach who recruited her left before Oleary finished high school.
Her college degree in hand last spring, Leary then returned for a fifth year.
Now the Blue Hens’ 6-foot-2 post player is reaping the benefits of both those decisions, having helped spark Delaware to its first NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament appearance in eight years.
“Regular-season champs last year, great WNIT run and then coming back this year and winning the whole thing,” Oleary said before practice Tuesday. “There’s no regrets.”
Oleary played all 40 minutes Sunday as Delaware upset top-seeded Drexel 63-59 on the Dragons’ home floor for the Colonial Athletic Association title. She had seven points, seven rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot, part of a critical defensive effort Delaware coach Natasha Adair said.
That earned the Blue Hens (24-7) a berth in the NCAA Tournament, in which they’re seeded 13th and face No. 4 Maryland (21-8) at the Terps’ Xfinity Center Friday at 5 p.m. (ESPNU).
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“The roads were was not straight,” Adair said of Oleary’s UD career. “It was bumpy. We had some potholes and things.
“But she never got off the road. She never said ‘I’m weary’ or ‘I don’t understand.’ It was ‘Whatever you need me to do’ and I admire her more than she’ll ever know.”
Oleary signed with Delaware during her senior season at Abington High in Pennsylvania, where she scored 1,201 career points, was second-team All-State and sparked her team to a district title.
But in April of her senior year in 2017, then-Delaware coach Tina Martin and the school announced a parting of ways it billed as a retirement, though Martin soon became associate head coach at conference rival UNC-Wilmington. Martin is now interim head coach there after Karen Barefoot’s February firing and likely to be retained in that position despite the Seahawks losing every CAA game in 2021-22.
Adair left Georgetown to become Delaware head coach that spring.
“It was kind of shocking because, obviously, if you’re not on the inside you don’t know everything that’s happening,” Oleary said. “So I was definitely feeling a lot of different things, a lot of ‘What am I gonna do?’ ”
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Oleary had chosen Delaware over Drexel, Bucknell and Richmond. Her high school and AAU coaches advised her to give Adair a chance, and Oleary had good first impressions when Adair embraced the players she inherited rather than trying to run them off.
“She kept everybody on and put her trust in us, which was a good sign for me that I can put my trust in her,” Oleary said.
Adair told Oleary she’d come to Delaware for the same reasons Oleary had – “Academics, athletics, winning tradition.”
“What Lizzie has done is, she bought in,” Adair said, “and she never wavered, even on the uncomfortable days.”
Oleary made the CAA All-Rookie team as a freshman. She was then a part-time starter as a sophomore and junior and full-time starter as a senior when Delaware was CAA regular-season champ in 2020-21. Though the Hens were upset by Drexel in the CAA final, they then reached the WNIT Final Four.
The CAA ruled that year didn’t count against a player’s eligibility, giving Oleary the chance to play another season. Around the time she realized she was interested in coming back, she was flattered when Adair came to her and said she wanted her back.
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“I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m staying,’ ” Oleary said.
Oleary graduated last spring with a degree in fashion merchandising and is now pursuing a master’s degree in international business.
But her career ambition is to coach college basketball. Delaware doesn’t have to win four NCAA Tournament games for her to attend the Final Four in Minneapolis. Oleary, along with teammates Tee Johnson and Paris McBride, is among 61 players selected to attend the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” two-way workshop there.
Oleary’s career was also capped by her being recipient of the CAA’s annual Dean Ehlers Leadership and Sport Excellence Award in women’s basketball that cites leadership, sportsmanship and academic achievement. That included authoring an essay on mental health for Bluehens.com
“Because of the pandemic I knew there were a lot of people struggling. That’s the topic I’m most passionate about,” said Oleary, the third Blue Hen women’s basketball player to win the Ehlers award, following Stephanie Leon in 2014 and Abby Gonzales in 2019.
While Oleary’s 6.6 points per game rank fourth on the team and her 6.6 rebounds are third, her value goes beyond statistical measure.
“Lizzie is our leader, that voice on our team,” said teammate Jasmine Dickey, the CAA two-time Player of the Year and the nation’s third-leading scorer. “She gives us the life that we need. She works hard all the time and that’s the backbone of our team. We won this championship [Sunday] for her and everybody else on the team. But she’s been here through the ins and outs so we did this for her.”
“She is our glue,” Adair said. “She is our foundation.”
Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com.
