Falcon Spotlight

Tess Lueders

Tess Lueders is the lone senior on the UW-River Falls Falcons women’s basketball team. She is from Stillwater, Minn., and majors in Secondary Education, Broad Field Science with a Biology Emphasis.

Lueders averaged 11.3 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game last season. She has shown potential to put up a lot of points in multiple games. One game in particular, she scored a career high 29 points against St. Benedict College last season.

“Tess is a versatile player that can play any position for us. She has led workouts for us and her teammates really respond to her as a leader,” said Head Coach Cindy Holbrook.

When asked about her personal goals Lueders said, “I just want to have a good end to my career. I would like to consistently be a leader in points and rebounds, but what I really want is for our team as a whole to be successful, and whatever role I need to fill to do that I will.”

She started playing basketball in third grade and her favorite memory before college was her freshman year in high school when her team went undefeated and won state.

“One of my favorite memories from UWRF was my sophomore year. We were all waiting around coach’s office waiting to hear if we would be picked to go to the NCAA tournament. It was great with everyone being there together. All eyes were on the screen and when our name was announced the level of excitement in that room was outstanding. It was a great moment to share together,” Lueders said.

Lueders said her choice to come to UWRF came after already determining that she did not want to go to school here. “My whole family had gone here and they were really pushing me to go, but I was certain that I would not like it. But, right from the get go when I had met coach and talked to some of the education professors, I knew that this would be a great place to play basketball and get a good education in the field that I wanted to go into.”

Besides basketball Lueders also played volleyball and ran track in high school. She did hurdles, ran the 200 meter and did some high jumping. Her hobbies outside of basketball are playing any kind of games from board games to card games. She also said the basketball team is really close and spend a lot of time off the court together. When she is lazy she said to give her a good book and some warm tea and she will be happy.