Rhoads unsure of what's next
SLIPPERY ROCK — Jence Rhoads goes back and forth.
Some days, she feel like she can play professional basketball overseas forever.
Other days, she feels like she has reached the end of her odyssey.
“I change my mind a lot,” the Slippery Rock High graduate says, smiling. “I'm just kind of floating in the breeze right now. Sometimes it's one year. Sometimes it's five years, so it goes day by day, week by week. This past season, there were times when I felt like it's time to move on and try something else, but then, once I finish, I'm like, “No! I want to keep playing.'”
Basketball has been a giant part of Rhoads' life since she could barely walk.
She was a standout at Slippery Rock High, where she set and still holds virtually every basketball record on the books — and even a few soccer marks — and then went on to star at Vanderbilt University for four years, leaving her mark on that program as the only player in Commodore history to leave with more than 1,100 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds.
For the past four years, Rhoads, 25, has played professionally overseas.
This past season was her first with ICIM Arad, which won the Romanian Cup this spring before falling to Targoviste in the Romanian league's best-of-five championship series, three games to one.
Rhoads played in all 35 games at point guard and led the team in minutes per game, assists per game (3.4) and steals per game (2.5). She also scored 11.3 points per contest.
Rhoads played for St. George in the Romanian League last season — the team ICIM Arad beat for the Romanian Cup title.With St. George in 2012-13, Rhoads was named the league's Guard of the Year. She also won the same award in 2011-12 with Haukar in the Icelandic League.She traveled back to St. George for the first time this season on April 18 — the one-year anniversary of the death of her father, Posey Rhoads, and received a standing ovation from the crowd before going out and scoring a team-high 24 points in the win that gave ICIM Arad the Romanian Cup.“It was a very special game for me,” Rhoads said. “It felt good being back there and winning the game and also winning the game for my dad.“I felt like he was with me,” said Rhoads about her father. “I knew throughout the whole season he was there and finally able to watch me play. I think he enjoyed it because we were playing well and I was playing well and our team was a fun team to watch.”Rhoads decided to go to ICIM Arad because of the up-tempo style. It was also an opportunity to play on a team that had been perennially one of the best overseas.“It was really good for me because I worked really well with the coach (Jose Araujo),” Rhoads said. “The system he ran was similar to the offensive system we ran at Vanderbilt, so I fit very nicely into it.”Now, Rhoads is looking for a new opportunity.She has already received offers from teams in Sweden and Hungary, but is still mulling them over.One thing is for certain: her desire to play is still strong and she's just happy she has the chance to play professionally.“There aren't a lot of opportunities in the United States, unfortunately,” Rhoads said. “(Playing overseas) is great because when you are done with college, some people are done, but some people want to keep playing, but can't because of limited opportunities here. It's nice I got the chance. It's nice to be able to go out, live in another country and still be able to play the sport you don't think you're done playing yet.”
