Crawford County High School senior basketball player Emery Stroud officially made her college choice last Monday when she signed a letter of intent to play for the Wildcats of Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, where she plans to work toward a nursing degree. “They have a very good nursing program, which is very important to me, and they’re a Christian school,” Stroud said of her school choice. “I have already met the girls up there through the IW camp that we went up to for basketball. It’s just really nice up there, and nursing is very important because it’s what I want to do in my future, and it’s just a really nice place up there.” Stroud’s first experience with the school came during the Top-100 workout, when she talked with Wildcats coach Ethan Whaley. Broughton took us to. I played a few games, and that day they said, ‘We want you to tour the campus.’ And then they gave me a scholarship right there. I feel very lucky to be able to keep on playing after this year.” Whaley said he was impressed with the senior as soon as he saw her. “The obvious part of it that just as a basketball player she’s long, she’s athletic and she has a great feel for the game,” Whaley said. “There’s a lot of talented players but, once we sat down with her and got to know her, she’s really got a sincere desire to see the people around her thrive. Her humility is obvious, and she’s the kind of person we want to fill our program with, with someone who wants the people around her to do well and use their gifts to ensure that people do well. That’s who Emmy is. “The great players have the capacity to make the game easier for everyone else,” he said. “Good players can do it; great players can really do it. I think that’s what Emmy does. Again, her ability to score is great, but her ability to pass and set others up is really good too. Because she can score so well, she draws help and creates easy stuff for everybody else. Her motor is infectious. Just to get her hunger and desire to compete, that inspires other people.” Crawford County girls’ coach Chris Broughton and his staff have watched Stroud grow up on the court since her elementary days. Broughton said. “We’ve all kind of watched her grow up here,” said Broughton. “As my first year as a coach, I remember that Emmy was at practice with her mom and had some of our practice gear on just as a little kindergarten, first-grade kid, so we’ve all kind of watched her grow up through the program. There’s just been a lot of people who have helped her get to where she is now. What you also get is some really hard work on her part, too, and dedication. So, that’s what I’m most proud of, that she had a goal in mind and set herself to achieve it, and she did.” Broughton said Indiana Wesleyan, an NAIA school, will be a good fit for Stroud, and he is looking forward to see how she grows as a player and a person. “I think with the style of play they want to play, Coach Whaley has been awesome,” he said. “He’s an Indiana Wesleyan person, and I don’t think we’ll have to worry about a lot of turnover or transferring in and out or anything. It’s a great program. They’re good. I think they’re ranked No. 19. They went deep in the (NAIA) national tournament. They did well in their conference, so they’re a really good program. She’s going to be in great hands, so it’s going to be exciting to see how good she can really be now that she can go on to college and play around some high-level players. I think the sky is going to be the limit for her.” Right now, Stroud will focus on seeing that her team finishes out the season strong then focus on her future nursing career and the Wildcats in that order. “Just to make sure I focus on that before basketball obviously, just make sure I get my future in sorts before I worry about anything else,” she said. “I just hope to get that and get a good job and have that as my future because I like to help people. It’s enjoyable for me, and I think it will be a good fit for me.”