Photo by Autumn Walter |CIGAR| Nicole Jorgensen has doubled her scoring and
averaged two more rebounds per game this season.
You’re sitting underneath the basketball hoop watching the ball being passed back and forth on the edge of the three-point line. All of a sudden you see a gap, and throw your arms into the air. Just moments later the ball is in your hands. You jump, and watch as it lifts off your fingertips, gently touching the backboard and sliding through the net.
Women’s basketball center Nicole Jorgensen is no stranger to the crisp sound of a basketball entering the net. As a sophomore, Jorgensen is seen as a leader both on and off the court by her fellow teammates. Statistically, Jorgensen has made significant progress in numerous areas of play as well.
Jorgensen’s final decision to attend URI was almost coincidental, as a previous commitment to Southern Connecticut University fell through. Courtney Burns, a former player for URI’s current associate head coach Marcus Reilly, was on the coaching staff at the time at Southern Connecticut. Burns originally recruited Jorgensen, but unfortunately lost her job mid-season, forcing an intern coach situation.
“She is imposing not just with her size, but she is very agile. She can catch almost any pass that is thrown to her and then has the ability to do something with it from there. There’s no sophomore slump for her.”
“Burns told Reilly about me,” Jorgensen said. “They called the next day and offered me a scholarship and I committed about a month or two after that. URI kind of just popped up.”
Jorgensen did not begin playing basketball until sixth grade. She assumed that her height and size would allow her to become an excellent player, and it did just that.
“I wasn’t really good until late middle school, and I didn’t think I was going to play in high school. I didn’t actually know what I was doing,” said Jorgensen.
Although Jorgensen played few minutes that were far between last year, she has played in 22 of the 26 games this year. Jorgensen has more than doubled her points per game, increased her rebounds by two per game and has five times the number of assists as she had in the 2016-2017 season.
The coaching staff are impressed with Jorgensen’s performances as well. She is able to perform agile play for her size, and has the ability to relate and push her teammates to their very best.
“She is a different kind of post player than we see in the league,” assistant coach Stephanie Tobey said. “She is imposing not just with her size, but she is very agile. She can catch almost any pass that is thrown to her and then has the ability to do something with it from there. There’s no sophomore slump for her.”
Jorgensen is seen as a leader on the court for her athletic ability, as well as off the court for her personality.
“The girls go to her if they are having a problem on or off the court,” Tobey said. “They’ll go and look to her for guidance, or her support and advice. The girls look up to her not just for her play, but to lead them in different facets of the game.”
Jorgensen hopes to continue her career after finishing her career in Kingston. She plans to go overseas and play, hopefully returning to the WNBA before setting down the basketball for good.