BEST OF THE FRESH: Eleah Parker, a freshman on the Penn women’s basketball team, is the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year. A unanimous selection, she started all 31 games for the Quakers and was second on the team with 11.5 points per game and 7.9 rebounds. Her superb season earned her Second-Team All-Ivy status, and she was an eight-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
WALKING TALL: A native of Charlotte, N.C., Parker started playing basketball in sixth grade. She was at first a cheerleader, theater performer, and dancer with little interest in the sport before friends, family, and mentors urged her to give it a try because of her height (she’s a legit 6’4”). “I gave it a shot with my church league and that’s how I kind of got started,” she says.
SO FAR, SO GOOD: She says her first year playing Division I college basketball “was definitely an experience.”
“Just coming in, having to balance the schoolwork and basketball, I feel like I managed it pretty well,” she says. “Academically, I feel like I’m keeping up with my work, I’m doing all of my studies. And then basketball, we had a successful season, so I would say that it’s a pretty good freshman year so far.”
STUDIOUS ATHLETE: Parker chose Penn because of the University’s world-class education. “I knew the basketball piece was there, that they had a very successful, talented team in the past,” she says. “I think the biggest part for me, though, deciding between schools was the education part. I mean, you can’t pass up an Ivy League education.” Enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences, she is leaning toward majoring in the Biological Basis of Behavior Program.
BALL ISN’T LIFE: Even with her basketball accomplishments and skill, Parker says she rarely watches basketball on television. “If it’s like a big game or like a playoff game, maybe I’ll catch pieces of it, but I don’t keep up with it too much,” she says. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with her friends, going out to eat, and going shopping.
THE ACTION IS THE JUICE: But she does indeed love the game. “I like just being in the moment, just competing, and being out there with my team,” she says. “The energy of it all, the intensity.”
BIG SHOES TO FILL: From graduating teammate Michelle Nwokedi, a three-time First-Team All-Ivy selection and the 2016-17 Ivy League Player of the Year, Parker says she has learned the importance of always competing at a high level. “She played pretty much all the game and always had to compete at a high level,” she says. “I think I really have to take after that, especially coming into these next few years. She was really that big post presence and she was just so dominant on both sides of the floor, and she really made an impact that way. I feel like I have to kind of fulfill that, too.”
KEEP GRINDING: The women’s basketball team recently started postseason work, lifting weights, doing individual workouts, and playing pickup games. As she prepares for her sophomore campaign, Parker says she is focusing on improving her post game and face-up game, working on her jump shot, and extending her range so she can be more versatile. To the incoming freshman class, she advises “grind it out now” so they can be ready for the season.
“I would definitely tell them to put in work now so they can be ready to play when it’s time because we’ll need every one of them,” she says.
