SLIPPERY ROCK — Karly Rhoads got to end her basketball career on top of a ladder, cutting down a net at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn.

Her Kentucky Wesleyan College women's basketball team had just defeated the host and No. 1 seeded Trojans for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference tournament championship.

Rhoads had no small hand in the upset, scoring 25 points in the 80-76 triumph.

Rhoads, a Slippery Rock High graduate, averaged 22 points in the three tournament wins.

“It was crazy, just crazy,” Rhoads said of the wild weekend. “They were the three best games I've ever been a part of in my college basketball career. We really just pulled together as a team.”

Usually, a championship like that would assure a team at least one more game in the NCAA Division II Tournament. But not for the Panthers (21-8), who were snubbed.

The GMAC champion does not get an automatic bid into the tournament. Suddenly, Rhoads' career was over.

“We were kind of bummed about it,” Rhoads said.

It hasn't hit her yet that she and her twin sister, Kourtney, who started along side her at guard in the title game, have no more basketball games to play.

“No, it hasn't really sunk in yet,” Karly Rhoads said. “I can't believe it.”

She had many moments this season she couldn't believe.

When Karly and Kourtney came to Owensboro, Ky., as freshmen, they were raw.

Both molded themselves into outstanding players.

Karly, though, had an exceptional senior year for the Panthers, leading the team in scoring (15 points per game), assists (107), minutes per game (30.8), field goal percentage (.530), free throw percentage (.827), steals (38), blocked shots (12), and 3-point percentage (.429).

Her season earned her GMAC Player of the Year honors.

“It was amazing,” Rhoads said. “It really made me feel like all that hard work had paid off.”

Kentucky Wesleyan co-coach Nicole Neiman was not surprised about the all-around effort she received from Rhoads.

“She can do so many things,” Neiman said. “She has a great outside game, she can go to the hoop, she can handle the ball — she had a good assist-to-turnover ratio — she makes her free throws. She's been a great all-around player for us.”

Rhoads finished her career with 1,209 points, which puts her ninth on the school's all-time scoring list.

Rhoads also became the first player in school history to win conference player of the year and helped the Panthers win their first ever conference tournament.

“To be able to be a part of that is awesome,” Rhoads said. “We all meant the world to each other.”

Rhoads said that was one of the reasons why Kentucky Wesleyan won six straight games to end the season, including three tournament games in three days.

The Panthers had to survive an overtime win over Cedarville to reach the final. Rhoads hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime.

“Well, we got a lot tougher,” Rhoads said. “Our coaches kept telling us we needed to be tougher, we needed to get tougher, and we did.”

Now the tough part really begins for Rhoads: finding something to fill the void.

She hasn't ruled out going overseas to try to play professionally. Her older sister, Jence, has be a pro in Europe for several seasons.

Jence, now living in Romania, woke at 3 a.m. her time each day of her sisters' tournament games to listen online and called to congratulate them after.

“It felt like she was there,” Karly Rhoads said. “It was very special.”