FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (July 24, 2020) – Having made her mark on the Northern Arizona women's basketball program, as well as its all-time record book,
Kaleigh Paplow soon moved on to finding her next basketball opportunity.
Despite averaging 14.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists during her senior season in 2018-19, Paplow's career ended with a bit of disappointment. Injured in the fourth quarter of NAU's 74-69 victory in the first round of the 2019 Big Sky Conference Tournament, Paplow missed the quarterfinal matchup with Idaho a day later.
The 90-73 loss ended Paplow's collegiate career, but she knew her basketball career was just getting started. And while it took a while to find her spot, Paplow quickly excelled once given an opportunity.
"I knew I wanted to play overseas immediately when I was done," Paplow said. "It was a long, long, long waiting game. Lots of back and forth like 'oh this, oh that.' Nothing ever came through really. Then after I basically cut ties with my agents, a couple teams reached out."
Paplow's resume spoke for itself, given the numbers she put up while at NAU. Finishing as the only player in program history ranked in top 10 in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played, Paplow's career totals rank from second in rebounds with 771, to fifth in points at 1,197 and ninth in assists at 276.
The wide-ranging skill-set made her a perfect option for teams overseas, with the versatility treasured by teams who can't see players in person.
"For someone who is going to have the opportunity to go play pro, you can't just have one stat that's high, you have to be points, rebounds, assists. You have to probably be at least your team leader in multiple categories just to have an opportunity to be seen over there," said Lumberjacks head coach
Loree Payne. "Stats are pretty critical, especially when it's just video. People from overseas aren't coming to watch them play, it's more just video and stats that they base their decisions off of."
Coaching Paplow for the final two seasons of her career, Payne said she knew Paplow would end up playing professionally if the opportunity arose.
"I think our very first conversation when I got the job was that she wanted to play pro if it was possible," Payne said. "It was kind of out there from day one and obviously she had a tremendous career here. We were very excited when she had the opportunity to go play overseas."
A FAMILIAR PLACE
Originally hoping to play in Europe, Paplow found the lack of response from her representation to be holding her up. Once a team in Australia reached out, the former Lumberjack quickly found herself playing in the North West Basketball Union.
Paplow's experience in Australia led her to feel comfortable taking the leap well across the globe.
"I actually lived in Australia when I was in seventh to eighth grade. I lived there for an entire year," Paplow said. "I knew the people, the kind of the lifestyle, the environment. It's somewhere that I'd like to play long-term just because they're good people. They're laid back, never have any issues with getting paid or anything like that and I can communicate easily."
Averaging 24.3 points, 11.9 rebounds and a league-best 3.22 steals per game, Paplow easily ranked as one of the NWBU's best across the nine games she would play before her first professional season was cut short.
After Paplow's team, the Somerset Heat, beat the Burnie Tigers 87-82 on March 13, the season came to an abrupt end. Having scored 32 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the victory, Paplow would soon realize basketball seasons across the world were coming to early ends.
Meanwhile, the Big Sky Conference canceled the remainder of its conference tournament in Boise, Idaho, on March 12, technically after Paplow's final game given the time difference. The NCAA tournament was canceled soon after, with all spring sports also canceled just a few days later.
When the NWBU put a stop to play, Australia as a whole had less than 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19. For Paplow, whose league is located in the state of Tasmania, 150 miles south of mainland Australia, the escalation of the pandemic caught her off guard.
"We're basically super secluded. I remember talking to a couple of my friends, even talking to Khia (Rasheed) and Nina (Radford), I'm like what's going on?" Paplow said. "I just got done playing a game the night before and then I saw the NCAA suspended it and I was confused for a while."
After a vote by the coaches of Paplow's league led to Basketball Tasmania halting her season, she initially planned to stick around in Australia to train younger players and work out on her own. However, when her gym in Tasmania also closed Paplow managed to catch one of the final flights back to the United States.
"We packed our stuff up, literally it's like a two-day decision," Paplow said. "We got on the last flight into America, so I had to fly from Tasmania to Melbourne, Melbourne to place in Hawaii, a place in Hawaii to another place in Hawaii, then to San Jose and then to Denver. So it was a crazy, crazy experience. I was literally on the last flight out of Australia."
GOING FORWARD
Making it back to her home in Colorado, Paplow plans to return to Tasmania once the leagues begin again in the new year.
Given her rapid success in the league she played in, Paplow hopes her performance opens up more opportunities in the country. While she played in the NWBU, Paplow also spent time practicing with the NBL1 which also includes some players from the WNBL, Australia's highest competitive basketball league.
"You've got your top tier players in the WNBL and then they come down to play the NBL1 which is kind of a medium between the two leagues," Paplow said. "They're very diverse. There's a lot of younger players, there's some older players, there's some vets, there's some mothers. It's super diverse and it's different."
In Paplow's current league, just one import player can be added to each roster. As a result, she said the Americans on opposing teams often end up battling head-to-head during games. With the leagues also allowing players to play in one another at the same time, Paplow said ideally she will be able to land offers from the next step above.
"I'm hoping to re-sign with my team and then hopefully get a contract with NBL1 team and get that higher level of competition, better pay and travel. We travel around all of Australia, which is pretty cool," Paplow said. "I'm excited to get back there."
