Carrie Shephard, South Pemiscot and SEMO star, taking her talents 'down under'

Within a month, Carrie Shephard will board a plane to fly halfway around the world in fulfillment of a lifelong dream to play professional basketball.

Shephard, 25, a year removed from graduating with a master’s degree in educational administration from Southeast, is headed to Australia to play point guard for the Ballarat Rush in the NBL-1 League.

“I was offered a contract Monday and signed it Tuesday,” said Shephard, who admits the only thing she knows now about Ballarat, a city of 105,000 in Australia’s state of Victoria, is that Melbourne, the country’s second largest metropolis, is about an hour away.

“We are absolutely thrilled for Carrie,” said Southeast’s sixth-year coach Rekha Patterson, “and we will be cheering for her to have continued success in her professional career.”

Fans will remember Shephard most recently for leading the Southeast women’s team to the 2019-20 Ohio Valley Conference championship, a 25-7 record and an automatic berth in the last year’s NCAA Tournament, a tourney that never happened.

Days after Shephard helped her team cut down the net at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana last March, the NCAA pulled the plug.

No tournament for anybody, thanks to COVID-19.

__Staying fit and ready__

Shephard has spent the past year working for Cape Girardeau’s Parks and Recreation department, rotating as needed between the Osage Center, Shawnee Park and the SportsPlex.

“I’ve been playing (basketball) every Saturday in Memphis, Tennessee,” said Shephard, who added the past couple of weeks she’s been joined by former teammate Tesia Thompson, who herself will graduate from SEMO in May.

__An overcomer__

Shephard was named the Miss Show Me Basketball award winner following an outstanding career at South Pemiscot High School in Steele, Mo.

After that, she endured a series of setbacks.

Recruited to the University of Missouri, she had a difficult time staying healthy.

Shephard played in just 28 games over two seasons at Mizzou thanks to a leg stress fracture.

Choosing to return closer to home, Shephard missed the 2016-17 season due to transferring to Southeast. The following season, the injury bug bit again as she hurt a knee and sat out the entire 2017-18 season.

Often hurt, she also had another obstacle to surmount on her road to the pro game: she stands just 5-foot-4.

“I want you to see my size, to see my leg scar, because when I succeed, it makes it that much sweeter,” Shephard said Wednesday.

Those who watched Shephard on the Show Me Center court acknowledge her quickness, her aggressiveness and leadership, and her ability to hit the three-point shot.

“I expect to fill a similar role at Ballarat,” she said.

__Australia__

Shephard will travel alone, “in the next three or four weeks,” to the continent once known as New Holland, a land where motorists drive on the left-hand side of the road.

Once she arrives, she will quarantine, by national COVID policy, for two weeks.

The NBL-1 season runs from April to September, so Shephard expects to join her new team a bit late.

Just one more hurdle to overcome for a player who has surmounted many.

__Future__

Shephard expects to return to Missouri immediately after the 2021 season concludes and is realistic about what lies ahead.

“If God allows, I see myself playing no more than five years because I can’t play ball forever,” she said.

“I would love to become an assistant coach (and) having played pro ball will look good on my resume,” Shephard concluded.