“It’s a great place to be if you care about history and antiques, as LaGina and I both do,” Brad says of the Boston and Salem areas. LaGina agrees, explaining that things fell perfectly for the two: “Brad got a job at Salem State . . . [and] Skinner was advertising for a position in the Americana department, and here I am.”
Brad
Scots earn second trip to national tournament Lyon College women’s basketball sets program record for wins in season by John Krueger, Sports Information Director
Four
seniors that Tracy Stewart-Lange recruit-
ed took the Scots to the NAIA Division I Women’s National Championship tournament a year ago as juniors. This year, with a combined 436 games of experience between them, they took their game up a notch. The Scots returned from their 20-12 season aiming to earn another trip to the national tournament. They achieved their goal after winning a program-record 28 games in their first season in the American Midwest Conference and claiming the regular season AMC Co-Championship. For the second straight year the Scots found themselves in a tough battle in the opening round of the national tournament. Lyon, the No. 5-seed and ranked 19th heading into the elite playoff, led No. 4-seed and 15th ranked Georgetown College 29-28 at the half, but the Scots went through a pair of second-half scoring droughts totaling 10:50 of the clock and fell by a 66-55 final.
But the focus of the 2012-13 season wasn’t how it ended, but how the team advanced to ‘the dance’.
Instrumental in the 28-5 final season record, and equally impressive 17-1 conference mark, were four seniors. They kept the team ranked in the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll for the first 12 polls of the season, yet another first for the program. The Scots started the season ranked No. 23, rose to a pinnacle of No. 15, and headed into the national tourney ranked No. 19. Guard Phagen Altom (Bald Knob, Ark.), who was an Honorable Mention All-American as a junior, led the foursome of seniors, along with forward Debbie Onukwube (Little Rock, Ark.), center Suzanne Fincham (Royal, Ark.) and guard Christine Smith (Bentonville, Ark.). Lyon’s Onukwube was the team’s leading scorer, posting 410 points, or 12.4 per contest. An AMC First-Team All-Conference player this season, she connected on 46.7% (170-of-364) of her field goals and 79.5% (70of-88) from the free throw line, while pulling in 5.1 rebounds a game, fourth-highest on the squad. Altom, who was also a first-team all-conference player in 2012-13, was second in scoring for Lyon, throwing Continued on Page 20
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The Lyon College
Piper
ahead,” LaGina says. “Luckily, we live in a great area with great speech therapists, audiologists, and doctors close by.” As for the future, it seems solid. “I don’t know that we have any definite ‘plans’ for the future other than trying to keep up with our kids,” Brad explains. LaGina adds, “Brad has tenure at Salem State, and I’ll be at Skinner as long as they’ll have me.”
LaGina
have both become accomplished in their careers. “Last April, I flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to accept the Graduate Teaching Award from the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools,” Brad says. “It was certainly an unexpected, but much appreciated, honor.” and
For Skinner, Inc., LaGina does “appraisals for estate and insurance purposes,” as well as takes in “consignments for auction and serve[s] as one of the company’s auctioneers.” Most notably, LaGina works as an appraiser on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow. On this program, people bring in antique items for appraisal from experts like LaGina. LaGina draws on her education daily. Her most-used Lyon skill? “Learning to communicate clearly—whether writing or speaking,” she says. “Every day, I have to tell clients, either on the phone, by e-mail or in person, that their cherished heirloom is not worth a million dollars. I have to let them down gently.”
The
couple spends their free
time with their two daughters, Stella, 8, and Phoebe, 2. “Phoebe just recently received her second cochlear implant (she was born profoundly deaf), so we have a long road of speech therapy
This summer, Brad will co-edit a book with the University of Wisconsin Press. “I’ve also gotten an advance contract with another university press for a book on American college sports during the Great Depression, and I hope to see that one in print sometime soon, too,” he says.
LaGina works as an appraiser on Antiques Roadshow.
Brad
LaGina
both encourage current Lyon students to look for careers that students are passionate about, as well as careers that pay the bills. LaGina says: “Figure out what you like or want to do. Then figure out a way to get paid for it.” and
Brad explains that being a professor is “a fantastically rewarding career . . . [but it also] requires a fair amount of sacrifice . . . Coming out of graduate school, I was offered jobs in Oregon and Massachusetts, and while both are beautiful and attractive places, neither is close to our lifelong friends and family.” Despite the sacrifices, Brad and LaGina love what they do and would not trade their careers and life in Massachusetts for anything else. The couple encourages current Lyon students to pursue further education, whether in graduate school or in a career, as long as they always maintain a passion for learning. Spring 2013
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