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Grand Forks Herald
From SEC softball to Summit hoops, Abby Duchscherer looks to make her mark at UND
- Story byGrand Forks Herald
- From SEC softball to Summit hoops, Abby Duchscherer looks to make her mark at UND
Oct. 16—GRAND FORKS — Abby Duchscherer approached Alabama softball head coach Patrick Murphy last fall and asked if she could enter the transfer portal.
After a beat, she clarified: for basketball.
"I made him sweat a little bit," Duchscherer said.
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The Kindred, N.D., native committed to UND shortly after declaring for the portal.
"I just knew I wanted to come home," Duchscherer said. "I've always had a love for UND. There's no bad things to say about NDSU, SDSU, anyone in the Summit League — I just wanted to come to UND. I wanted to come to a program, I want to flip it around, and I want to help it in any way possible, and I think all the coaches here made that such an easy decision, just with their morals and their character."
Duchscherer arrived in Grand Forks this summer after spending the last four seasons playing softball for Alabama.
The 6-foot graduate forward has since suffered an ankle injury.
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It'll be a while before Duchscherer can prove she's still the player who averaged 19.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 4.0 steals per game as a high school senior ... the player who guided Kindred to an undefeated record, won a Class B state championship and was named North Dakota Miss Basketball.
"I don't think we'll see the true Abby probably until after Christmas, the player we believe she can be," Fighting Hawks head coach Dennis Hutter said. "We'll get her in there here and there. ... She went down, but she's working her way back, and she's great for our locker room. She's got experiences that the kids could lean on that no one else in our locker room has gone through at a level that no one else has ever gone through. She's been a very, very positive impact on our program."
A few months after Duchscherer committed to UND, she went to a gym at Alabama, fired up the shooting machine and started recording herself.
"I was like, 'I promise I still have it,'" Duchscherer said. "It was just a weird scenario, it's like, 'Yeah guys, trust me after four years of not touching a basketball.' I took that into account too, that maybe some people wouldn't want to take that gamble."
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Duchscherer sent a video to Hutter, who put it up on the TV in his office.
"I kind of went, well, all right, it doesn't go away," Hutter said. "You might have to kick the rust off, but my gosh, look at her move."
Duchscherer was cautious about playing basketball during her time with the Tide. She primarily took to the court to prove her skills to Alabama football players who questioned her basketball credentials.
But Duchscherer wanted to show her future coach that she wasn't taking basketball lightly.
"She goes, 'Just in case anybody doesn't think I can do this,'" Hutter said. "She has been prepping for this, so the rust was kicked off by July. She was playing at a pretty high level come July."
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Duchscherer had her work cut out for her upon arrival.
"The first week, I can't lie, that was some of the most challenging fatigue I've ever experienced," Duchscherer said. "I know I did four years of college softball at the SEC level, but never once have we ran this much in my life. I was like, 'This running is a different breed.' But I understand. We're at a DI college, this isn't going to be a cakewalk."
Beyond the conditioning, Duchscherer has had to learn Hutter's system and get reacquainted with the game.
"The first two weeks were honestly just brushing all the rust off and understanding the concepts," Duchscherer said. "I feel like a freshman in a way. Everything's still very new, and I'm trying to be a sponge, soak it all up. I've told Hutter this whole time, 'I need you to pack four years into nine months. I don't care how you do it, how you yell at me, but I need you to give me everything you've got, and I'll do everything I can.'"
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Duchscherer's injury has thrown another curveball into the process. She's been easing her way back in at practice. Next week, she'll start shooting 3-pointers.
"It's a little bump in the road, and it just is what it is," Duchscherer said. "In the grand scheme of things, if I do miss a few games, it is what it is, because I more so want to be an impact when the Summit League season is here, and the postseason. The postseason is the most important part of everyone's season. Maybe a slow start to my runway, but it's okay."
Duchscherer, who grew up less than three hours from the Canadian border, now speaks with a light southern accent.
She blames her roommates.
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"Marlie (Giles) is from Clanton, Alabama," Duchscherer said. "Whenever she says 'Clanton,' she just has this crazy accent. The first time I ever heard her speak, I couldn't understand her. ... When half your team who's from Alabama is speaking like that, you end up picking up on 'y'all,' and pronouncing words like they do."
Duchscherer says 'y'all' is sticking in her vocabulary forever. "I think it's easier than saying you guys," she said. She's returning to her home state with more than a change in regional dialect, though.
Hutter quickly recognized that she could be an asset off the court as well, based on her four years with an elite SEC program.
"She comes from a great program as far as culture goes, with what coach Murphy does at Alabama," Hutter said. "As far as culture goes, it's top of the line, so we knew what kind of kid we were getting, we knew what kind of teammate we were getting."
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Duchscherer, an infielder, played 187 games for the Crimson Tide and started 128. She finished her softball career with 94 hits, 62 RBIs and 14 home runs.
Alabama reached the Women's College World Series in three of Duchscherer's four seasons with the team.
"It was the opportunity of a lifetime," Duchscherer said. "I sacrificed a lot of my childhood to reach the highest level, and in reward of that, I got pampered in the most crazy ways. ... I just count my blessings every day."
Now, in her final year, Duchscherer is a collegiate veteran on a young roster. UND has just two seniors this season: Addison Klosterbuer and Jayda Maves.
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After four years at Alabama, Duchscherer sees her final season of college athletics differently.
"I think as a fifth-year senior, you gain a different perspective," Duchscherer said. "My mindset has shifted from, 'Oh, I want to be an All-American,' to how can I impact these girls' lives past basketball? I've been in two weddings from just being on my softball team. Basketball is for four years, but it's a 40-year lifestyle. ... I just want to leave my impact by giving them my knowledge and wisdom. Whatever happens on the court happens. But as long as I can say I gave it my all and leave no stone unturned, I'm not going to put too much pressure on me."
