Terrace’s Romanowksi signs letter of intent to play basketball at Denver

Published 6:02 pm Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Samantha Romanowski suffered a major setback in her basketball career when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament last July.

Quickly after, the Mountlake Terrace star received assurances from the University of Denver that the injury didn’t change the goal of having Romanowski come play for the school.

Romanowski made it official on Wednesday, signing a letter of intent to play for the Pioneers after her senior year at Mountlake Terrace.

“After my knee and everything, the choice kind of became where I want to see myself going,” Romanowski said. “Who supported me the most after it happened? Denver was at the top. They told me right when it happened that they know I’ll be able to come back from it and be a really good player. They weren’t scared of it.”

Romanowski, who was voted co-Wesco 3A Player of the Year last season, visited the Denver campus for a basketball tournament and the school immediately jumped into her top candidates.

“When I went there for a basketball game I really fell in love with the campus and the people there,” Romanowski said. “The coaches are really nice and the team is just like a family. They really treat each other like sisters.”

When Romanowski injured her ACL on July 7 at an AAU tournament in Oregon, Denver recommitted to the senior shooting guard. Romanowski said one other school did not, and withdrew its scholarship offer.

Despite the injury, Mountlake Terrace head coach Zach Wilde says the Pioneers are getting one heck of a player.

“They’re gong to get a really good player that’s got the potential to help them go from a mid-major to making the NCAA tournament,” Wilde said. “It’s a scary thing for a school. She’s not going to play for over a year and a half before she gets any game time. But with how common the injury is nowadays, it shouldn’t scare too many schools off. At the end of the day you’re getting a great player and she’s going to come back from it.”

Romanowski will not play basketball during her senior year at Mountlake Terrace, but will still spend quite a bit of time around the girls basketball team. The senior will help coach the Hawks this season with Wilde.

“I’ll kind of be a little helper coach and actually be able to see what’s going on and help a little,” Romanowski said. “Just kind of be there and another set of eyes. I think it’ll help me a lot, just getting better at my game. I’ll be able to see what coaches are talking about when they say something. A lot of times when you’re playing and a coach says something you’re thinking, ‘I’m already doing that.’”

While Wilde and Romanowski both would rather have the star on the court, the head coach is excited to have Romanowski coach with him this season. He believes it will be a great experience for her.

“It is the most valuable thing she will ever get out of her injury,” Wilde said. “You get to see the game in a totally different perspective now. You can see things and go, ‘What if we did that?’ She’ll learn a lot.”

Romanowski, who wants to be a pediatrician, celebrated signing day with a physical therapy appointment on Wednesday. She is planning on having a party with friends and family at Sorellis Pizza in Mountlake Terrace on Saturday.

As for her recovery, Romanowski said she is ahead of schedule, and should be ready to make a difference for Denver right away.

“I’ve started a modified run,” Romanowski said. “It’s just getting it really strong. Everything’s on track. My doctor says I’m a little ahead of the time frame.”