Meadow Heights graduate Erin Bollmann signs to play basketball at Southeast Missouri State

Former Meadow Heights standout Erin Bollmann has wanted to play Division I basketball since she was in high school. She chose to attend and play basketball at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, out of high school with the hopes that she'd still fulfill that dream.

Bollmann will get to do that after she signed to play basketball for women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler at Southeast Missouri State on Thursday.

"When I talked to them, they said they saw how good I was at basketball my freshman year [at Three Rivers], yet they weren't looking for someone in my position, they were looking for a post," Bollmann said. "So the next year I guess they needed someone in a 4-spot, 3-spot, so they called me up and I have some great friends over at SEMO, so they just let me come in for a workout and they liked what they saw and let me sign today."

Bollmann started all 30 games as a freshman at Three Rivers and averaged a team-best 13.8 points, 3.5 steals and .9 blocks, and her 7.2 rebounds were second on the team. She was named a second-team All-American following that season.

She appeared in only 13 games her sophomore year due to a knee injury before being dismissed from the team in late January for a couple of curfew violations.

"I told SEMO that I have learned so much from that situation, and I do not regret it because it made me fall back in love with basketball so much more," Bollmann said.

She worked out at Southeast a few weeks ago and one of the reasons she said she chose to become a Redhawk was because "the coaching staff is amazing."

"I met with all of the coaches before I worked out and they were so supportive and said, "No matter what happens you're going to do great,'" Bollmann said. "Just talking to them, they're very mature and just know what they're talking about. Just hearing their basketball level of IQ and knowing that I would fit well with them there, it just made me realize how good of a coaching staff they have. They're very adamant about flipping this season around and getting girls who can really perform for SEMO this year. It makes me very hopeful that next year is going to be a good year."

She also received a full scholarship offer from Southeast's Ohio Valley Conference opponent Tennessee State University and also considered playing at Division III Bethel University, but felt that playing Division I close to home was something she couldn't pass up.

Bollmann joins Dexter's Hannah Noe and Deja Jones from Riverdale High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, who both signed on the first day of the spring signing period, and Imani Johnson from Lee's Summit North High School in Lee's Summit, Missouri, and Kaley Leyhue of Westview High School in Martin, Tennessee, who signed during the early signing period in November.

Bollmann said that the Southeast coaching staff spoke to her a great deal about wanting her to fill a needed role as a leader for the Redhawks.

"Every team that I've been on I have taken a leadership role, so I kind of just fall into that," Bollmann said. "It's kind of like it's my calling to be a leader. And they said that's what they lacked a lot last year, so I hope that I fulfill what they're wanting and needing out of me to be a leader on the team."