Women's Basketball WCC Columnist Jeff Faraudo

WCC Hall Of Honor: Louella Tomlinson

Louella Tomlinson appreciates the fact that her family’s basketball reputation did not precede her arrival at Saint Mary’s College in the fall of 2007.

Back home in Melbourne, Australia, her father, Ray Tomlinson, twice represented his country at the Olympics and was inducted into Basketball Australia’s Hall of Fame. Her mother, Sandra Tomlinson, played at the FIBA World Championships twice.

“I’m from a big basketball family in Australia and that was one of the things that excited me about going to Saint Mary’s,” Tomlinson said. “No one knew who I was.”

That’s not to say Tomlinson wished to remain anonymous.

“You go to college with all these big hopes and aspirations, wanting to make a name for yourself,” she said. “And that’s exactly what I was able to do. So seeing all those things be celebrated, it’s a nice feeling.”

Tomlinson, now 34, is being celebrated as the Gaels’ 2023 inductee into the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor. She will make the trip from Down Under to Las Vegas next month to be recognized with honorees from nine other schools.

“Obviously, it’s exciting. I still catch up with some of the Aussie Gaels in Australia,” Tomlinson said. “Every time I see them it kind of makes me a little bit sad because what we had there was a really great connection and a family and a home away from home. 

“For me it was a really special time in my life and a chance for me to discover myself. So it’s amazing.”

Tomlinson’s four seasons at Moraga certainly could be described that way. She was a three-time first-team All-WCC selection, finished her career as the program’s leading all-time scorer with 1,840 points and is No. 2 with 1,122 rebounds. 

At 6-foot-4, Tomlinson was named WCC Defensive Player of the Year in 2009 and ’10 on her way to compiling 663 career blocked shots, which stood for three years as the NCAA record. Her 5.3 blocks per game remains the collegiate career standard.

Perhaps she was destined to do all this, coming from such accomplished basketball genes. But that background sometimes seemed more like a burden to her than a ticket to greatness.

“As a kid it was often challenging because it came with a last name that had a lot of expectations,” Tomlinson said. “So I think that’s why I able to play so freely when I went to college and find my own fate. That’s what motivated me in the early days of my college career.”

It also served as competitive fuel that led to frustration when a vote of her teammates left her out of the starting lineup for the Gaels’ opening exhibition game her freshman season.

“I didn’t care that I was a freshman, I didn’t care I stepped on players’ toes — I wanted to play basketball,” she said. “I’ll never forget that feeling of not being selected to start for my team.”

Tomlinson recalled scoring 26 points in the Gaels’ 93-86 win over Loyola of Louisiana. She was sure she had no assists, as if she intended it that way.

In fact, she had 22 points, nine rebounds, five blocked shots . . . and three assists in 29 minutes on the floor. 

“I still remember going onto that court mad,” she said. “I laugh about it now.”

Not surprisingly, Tomlinson was in the starting lineup from then on.

Tomlinson was a prolific scorer and rebounder for the Gaels but what made her special was her shot-blocking prowess. She led the WCC in that category all four years and assembled seven career triple-doubles.

Maija Lahde Wilson came from Finland to Saint Mary’s the same year Tomlinson landed from Australia. The two bonded because both were newcomers to the country, and Wilson said Tomlinson was an invaluable defensive asset.

“She was obviously a phenomenal shot blocker,” said Wilson, who scored more than 1,000 points in her Saint Mary’s career. “In having someone like that in paint waiting if anyone got beat, that was definitely a big help. It was easier for us to put more pressure on the ball."

One of Tomlinson’s most remarkable performances came against Boise State her junior season. In an 83-72 victory, she had 17 points, nine rebounds . . . and 15 blocked shots. That single-game total is still just one off the all-time NCAA record.

Lauren Lenhardt, who became a 1,300-point scorer for Boise, was a freshman that season and had five of her shots swatted. She has no recollection of the game all these years later. “If she blocked me (five) times,” Lenhardt said, “I probably blocked it out of my mind.”

It all contributed to to 663, a total that stood as the NCAA career record until 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner of Baylor eclipsed it with 748 blocks through the 2013 season.

Tomlinson met Griner a half-dozen years ago while in Phoenix to train with the Australian national team. Griner was playing for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the two had their picture taken together. 

“I didn’t say anything to her about the blocked shots record. She wouldn’t have even known my name,” Tomlinson said. “She was really nice, really personable. She was an incredible player.”

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Griner was in the news for most of 2022 after being arrested for possession of cannabis oil last February and held in Russia, where she was playing professionally. She was sentenced to nine years in prison before the U.S. used a prisoner swap to secure her release on Dec. 8.

Tomlinson — who played professionally in Hungary, Italy and Spain, in addition to Australia — described Griner’s ordeal as “disgusting.”

“I know what playing basketball in Europe is like. I know how isolated you can get,” Tomlinson said. “I can’t imagine what she’s been through. I know she’s got a long road to recovery. I do hope she makes it back and she’s amazing and she continues to be a force.”

Tomlinson’s playing days are over. She retired a year ago and began her career as a sixth-grade teacher in Melbourne. She also works part-time as a WNBL players association delegate representing the three professional teams in her home state of Victoria. “I’m absolutely loving that,” she said.

Her mother and her partner will join her for the Hall of Honor ceremonies at the University Credit Union WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.

Voted into the Saint Mary’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, Tomlinson now becomes the sixth Gaels basketball player named to the Hall of Honor, joining Anja Bordt Suomalainen (2009), Peter Thibeaux (2011), Tracy Morris Sanders (2014), Odell Johnson (2015) and David Vann (2016).

Remarkably, given her country’s deep connection to Saint Mary’s, it’s Tomlinson — not Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Daniel Kickert or Jock Landale — who became the first Aussie Gael to receive the honor.

What does that mean to her? “A little bit one-upping them,” Tomlinson said through laughter. “I’m completely honored.”