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Gloria Brewer to pierce new challengers at Grace College
For being around Greencastle just a single season, the impact left by Gloria Brewer will be one that will be felt for years into the future.
Teams in the Crossroads League might be getting to feel that impact sooner that they’d like.
After some deliberation, Brewer made the decision to join the Grace College women’s basketball program, signing to join the Lancers starting in the 2023-24 school year.
“(Grace) is a Christian school, it’s close to home, the coaches are really nice the team seems nice,” Brewer said. “It’s a competitive team and I wanted to make sure I was going to a place that wants to compete.
“It just seemed perfect. (Winona Lake) is awesome and they have a little village that is within walking distance.
“It’s a safe community and the campus is very nice,” Brewer added. “The facilities are amazing and it’s a really nice place.”
The campus, located on the eastern banks of Winona Lake, southeast of Warsaw, provides both a scenic and cozy place for students with Brewer looking keep herself involved with athletics to a certain extent.
“I will be looking to study exercise science,” Brewer said. “I’m looking into physical therapy and working at a practice.”
The Lancers, a school that competes at the NAIA level and is part of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), has been on an upward swing the past six seasons with winning records in five of those six years and an appearance in the NAIA National Tournament in the 2023-24 season, along with a third-place finish in the NCCAA Basketball Tournament.
“The program has been really successful,” Brewer noted. “They compete with pretty much anybody and it’s been a really successful place.”
Brewer said she would remain at a guard position and said the coaching staff believed she was the kind of player to hit the ground running.
“They’re hoping I come in and make a difference early in the year,” Brewer said about what sort of impact the coaching staff was looking for. “I’ll probably be at point guard.
“I’ll still have to work for playing time. That’s something that you have to do no matter where you go.”
Grace head coach Dan Davis said it was an unusual recruitment process but one that paid off in the end.
“The truth is, I had never seen (Gloria) play in person,” Davis pointed out. “I’ve never signed anyone off of just film.
“The family had reached out to us last year but when we went to an event to watch her play, she had been injured as wasn’t there. When we saw the first film, I reached out to one of our recruiters and told them this was a kid they needed to keep following.”
Davis added players like Brewer, ones that could be playing at several different levels, were often the kind that made major impacts down the road.
“We kept tabs on her progress and with a couple of kids graduating early, I told (assistant coach Jake Anders) to set up a time to get her on campus in March,” Davis said. “We kept doing our homework and for us, it was a no-brainer.
“Some of the best kids we’ve gotten have gone under the radar. I was fortunate to coach a NAIA National Player of the Year at another school, a 5-01 player that no one else recruited out of junior college and it’s funny how kids turn out.”
Of the things Davis saw in Brewer, her attitude toward the game and those around her was held in high regard, a trait others on the team also showed.
“When you look at someone who scored over 700 points in a season, was a top-five scorer in the state and yet is as humble as she is, that spoke to me than all the statistics I’d seen,” Davis said. “One the best compliments I can also offer is that we have a fifth-year player, Maddie Ryman, who has already scored 1,800 points in her career so far and when she pulled up her videos, she said, ‘We need to get this kid.’
“That, to me, is what our program and culture is and to have the humility from an All-American to see someone who has what we want in a player is special. There’s a lot she brings to the team, not just in the future, but when she gets on campus next fall. We’re excited to have her.”
Brewer said being an athlete at Greencastle, as well as a student, was important ahead of attending Grace next fall, a change that might have been even more stark had she not been a Tiger Cub during the 2022-23 school year..
“It’s a big adjustment as I’ve been home schooled my entire life,” Brewer said about committing to a school three-plus hours away. “Being gone all the time will be a big adjustment, though I do plan to come home many weekends.
“Academically, it’ll be a little hard than high school and athletically, it will take a little more work. It’s helped a lot being in a class a day and then traveling with teammates a lot has helped with being away from home, not only for myself but for my family.
“It’s been really good.”
Though it will be a major change, one with new challenges and opportunities, Brewer said she was eager to see how everything played out.
“I’m excited and nervous,” Brewer said. “It’ll be a fun experience but it’s also nerve racking, too.”