EWING—Former TCNJ women’s basketball player Hillary Klimowicz recently signed a one-year professional contract to play with the SDENT Nyon, which is a member of the First Division in the Switzerland League. Klimowicz, a 6-3 center, will join SDENT Nyon for the 2010-11 season with the team coming off of a very successful season in which they advanced to the league finals. She plans on heading to Europe in mid-August to begin training for the upcoming season.
"I'm incredibly excited to start a new journey with basketball as my guide,” Klimowicz said. “I know that the people I've met and the relationships I've formed while playing and coaching at TCNJ will enhance my experience in Europe. I'm incredibly grateful to have this opportunity and for all the support I have already received and will continue to receive."
If Klimowicz’s success at TCNJ is an indication of how she adjusts to the professional level, TCNJ head coach Dawn Henderson feels that she will have no problem excelling at the next level.
“I'm extremely proud of Hillary. She has been a success at every level of basketball and I have no doubt she will be successful as she pursues her professional basketball career,” Henderson explained. “She is an outstanding young woman and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to be her coach. We will miss her as she moves abroad to continue her basketball career.”
Klimowicz’s collegiate playing career began at NCAA Division I St. Joseph’s University in 2005-06 where she was the 2005-06 Atlantic 10 and Big Five Rookie of the Year. She then made the decision to transfer to Division III TCNJ where she quickly made an impression on the Lion program.
Her statement season came during her senior season in 2008-09 when she was named the 2009 Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association Player of the Year. She was not only the first Lion to garner this award, but the first player from the New Jersey Athletic Conference to do so. Klimowicz was also selected to the 2009 State Farm Coaches’ All-America Basketball First Team. She was also a finalist for the 2009 Jostens Trophy, as the top player in Division III. Additionally, she was selected as the 2009 ECAC Metro Player of the Year and an ECAC Metro First-Team honoree.
Klimowicz was a two-time NJAC Player of the Year and a three-time All-NJAC First Team honoree.
She finished her career with her name throughout the program’s record book as she recorded a single-season record for points in a season with 587 and ranks second in program history with 1,413 points and 832 rebounds. She is also the program’s all-time leader in blocked shots with 314 and holds season marks for rebounds (320), blocks (119), field goals made (232), and field-goal percentage (67.1%).
Klimowicz excelled in the classroom as well as she was named CoSIDA’s ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II College Division Second Team in 2009. She earned her degree in psychology with minors in sociology and women and gender studies and was a three-time TCNJ Scholar-Athlete.