Sankey a triple threat for senior quartet

Regan Sankey is going to law school next year. She’s also going to become a certified public accountant. Needless to say, she has handled her academics pretty well at the University of South Dakota while also playing basketball for the Coyotes during a celebrated era in program history. 

The senior from Lincoln, Nebraska, will be playing in her last home game on Saturday at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center and will be saying goodbye to a crowd that she knows personally.

For many senior college basketball players, getting to know a crowd is a general thing. It means these players have grown familiar with fans’ applause and can recognize a few season ticket holders.

For Sankey, though, a 6-1 forward who has started one game in her four years with the team, becoming a crowd favorite has been a distinction she’s earned on a person-to-person basis.

“I worked at the golf course this past summer and I got to meet a lot of people from Vermillion,” Sankey said. “That has been a really cool experience. We see Vermillion from the college side but it’s great to cross over into the residential side. It’s been great talking to people who live here and getting to know so many. It’s a tight-knit community. It’s the people who make this place special.”

Sankey’s story at USD starts with winning. In short she has been a part of some of the best squads the Coyotes have ever put on the floor. Her three previous seasons ended with NCAA tournament berths. This year’s 22-5 team is so far following the same path.

During this time she has had to figure out ways to contribute to the cause given that her playing time – about five minutes a game over her career – has been limited. 

“It’s about knowing your role, accepting it and loving it,” Sankey said. “That means performing it every day in practice and every game. It means bringing my best offense and my best defense and cheering my best on the bench. Or keeping my teammates’ spirits up. I’ve really tried to find that role. It’s changed every year, but it’s always been about finding out what it is and loving it and doing it the best that I can.”

The two-time Nebraska all-state player has proven to be versatile and helpful, sometimes in ways the coaching staff could not have anticipated.

Coach Dawn Plitzuweit used the term “triple-threat” in describing her senior. Whereas usually that would refer to some combination of basketball skills, for Sankey it addressed usefulness. What is she good at? Sankey’s standard response has been: What do you need?

“She’s a triple-threat in that she’s always ready for whatever is asked of her,” Plitzuweit said. “She came into the program at a time when it was going to be difficult to get on the court every night so she had to find other ways to contribute. It was about her saying, ‘Whatever capacity I can help, that’s what my role will be.’”

Over the years those roles have evolved into something substantial. This list of contributions might involve taking on any position other than point guard when the Coyotes’ starters are preparing for a specific opponent. She has also become what Plitzuweit calls “our mini-director of basketball operations.” It means when communication with players needs to take place, Sankey will be the one who gets the first text from the coaches and makes sure everyone on the team sees it. 

It also can be about providing humor and/or comfort to teammates in need of it.

“She’s always ready to fill a void,” Plitzuweit said. “Sometimes it’s like ‘Regan, don’t you have to study for the LSAT?’ And she’ll tell me not to worry – she has everything under control. She’s always ready to do whatever we need.”

It has also meant correcting pronunciation of words from the head coach. It’s not a major role, but a rising tide lifts all boats, right? It can be a learning experience for everyone. 

In this case it involved the word “havoc.”

During a pre-game talk Plitzuweit used the phrase “wreak havoc” and Sankey started laughing as Plitzuweit continued on with her message. Finally the coach had to stop.

“OK, Regan, what? What’s so funny?” Plitzuweit asked. 

“Ah, Coach,” Sankey replied. “I don’t think that’s how you pronounce that word.”

Plitzuweit went to her phone, listened to the word being pronounced correctly and sure enough, the future lawyer was right.

“I’m like, ‘Dang it, Regan,’ I mispronounced another word,” Plitzuweit said. “She says, ‘I’m just trying to help you, Coach.”

Saturday’s Senior Day ceremonies will be emotionally challenging. With a regular season to complete, a Summit League Tournament ahead and the possibility for more after that, there is plenty yet to prepare for. But this will be the last regular-season home game for “super” seniors Hannah Sjerven, Chloe Lamb and Liv Korngable, all of whom took advantage of an additional season of eligibility granted by the NCAA during the pandemic, and for Sankey, who wants to get started on what promises to be a lot of academic challenges.

She’ll miss it, she said. In the coming years when she visits with teammates they will talk about all those wins, of course, but also about the time Plitzuweit broke the heel on her shoe in the first half against Green Bay. With one heel on and the other gone, it was nearly impossible for the coach to walk normally as she entered the locker room.

“She came in limping and kinda yelling,” Sankey said. “We were all trying to stay serious but there was no way we were going to be able to keep a straight face the way she was walking.”

Sankey is quite a sports fan, well-known for keeping her teammates up to speed on the Cornhusker football program. She also goes to every Coyote sporting event that she’s able to attend and has friends throughout the athletic department. 

Life is not just about basketball. 

“Sometimes I feel like it’s 2018 and I’m still a freshman,” she said. “It’s been really good, but also really fast. I love this school and I love my teammates – that’s made it easier. My best friends are on this team. They’ll be in my wedding. I love them. They’re all going to be lifetime friends.”