Roberts blocks out noise, becomes a Jet

The naysayers almost had Darcy Roberts convinced.

“College basketball will burn you out.”

“Just because you’re good in high school doesn’t mean you’ll be good in college.”

“It’s more of a job than anything.”

And her personal favorite: “You won’t have a chance to experience college life if you play basketball.”

As Roberts, a four-year standout who won two state titles and reached the title game two more times at Lomega High School, contemplated her future, she listened to a lot of people.

Several of them tried to talk her out of playing collegiate basketball.

And it almost worked. “Once you’ve been told something so many times it becomes easy to believe it,” she said.

“So, I ended up convincing myself that playing college basketball wasn’t what I wanted, even though I always knew it was.”

Then, just before Christmas break last year, Roberts sat down with her coach, Kevin Lewallen.

“Per usual, Coach Lew told me exactly what I needed to hear,” Roberts said.

“And after mulling it over, I finally came to the conclusion that I would never stop regretting it if I chose not to continue devoting my life to the sport.”

That decision came to a conclusion in a whirlwind May.

Meshed in with countless banquets, programs and even graduation, Roberts signed her name to a letter of intent to play for Northern Oklahoma College in Enid.

She’ll play for Kelli Jennings, the former Okarche girlscoachwhojustwrapped up her third season with the program.

Roberts had multiple offers to play, but her decision was narrowed down to Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva and NOC-Enid.

“I knew I would have been happy at both of them,” Roberts said.

“But all in all, I know where I’m supposed to be… with Coach Jennings.”

Jennings isn’t at all unfamiliar with Roberts’ game. She coached against - and beat - Lomega during Roberts’ freshman season in 2019-20.

When Roberts told Lewallen of her decision to play basketball, Jennings wasted little time in reaching out to her and telling her she had a spot in Enid if she wanted it.

“I love her style and I love the program she has built over the last three years,” Roberts said. “She’s very passionate and I love that about her became so am I.”

Roberts liked the smaller- sized campus in Enid and the “homey” feeling it gave her.

After visiting with Jennings on that visit, Roberts was convinced.

“I knew there wasn’t a better place for me to end up,” she said.

Having followed Roberts’ career as both an opponent and then as a potential recruit, Jennings didn’t hold back her joy when Roberts made her pick.

“We were so excited when Darcy committed to NOC,” Jennings said.

The reasons, she added, were plentiful.

“She comes from a winning program and she can flat-out score!” said Jennings.

Indeed, Roberts scored 1,746 points during her Lomega career. She also grabbed 978 rebounds.

But that’s not all. “She’s got a high IQ of the game and she excels academically,” Jennings added.

Again, her record backs it up.

Roberts was a class valedictorian, was a member of the National Honor Society and was on five different teams that won state academic championships in basketball, track and cross country.

“She’s everything we are looking for when we go recruit players and I think Darcy will come in and make an immediate impact on our program,” Jennings said.

As she begins the next phase of her basketball career, Roberts said she knows there is some truth in what others were telling her.

“I’m not naive. I do know that it will be a job, it’s going to be different and it’ll be a lot of work,” Roberts said.

“But the thing is, I’m 100% okay with that. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m confident in my love for the sport and know that no matter the circumstances, the passion I’ve held on to for so long isn’t just going to disappear.”