German Center Has No Trouble Leaving Las Vegas
by Matt Zimmerman, Long Beach Press-Telegram
January 25, 2005 Petra Glaeser is one of those rare centers: she's comfortable just about anywhere.
Under the basket, on the perimeter … in her hometown of Amtsberg, Germany … Las Vegas, and now finishing her senior season with the Long Beach State women's basketball team. The 6-foot-6 Glaeser is third on the 49ers in scoring at 12.7 points per game, with at least a couple baskets per game coming on a free-throw line jumper she calmly floats out to sink in pressure situations.
"I like to do it, and it's harder for an opponent to guard it, because usually posts aren't used to defending (it)," Glaeser said of the shot, which she sank twice to help spark the 49ers in their comeback from a 15-point deficit to beat Cal State Fullerton 76-68 at the Pyramid Jan. 13. "I always wonder when they're going to figure out that I shoot that shot, because they seem not to. A better prepared team, they figure it out. I like that shot, obviously Coach (Mary Hegarty) knows, we have a play for it."
Glaeser's form from the line is consistent, as she ranks first in the Big West Conference in foul shooting at .892 (33 of 37). She honed her stroke growing up in Germany, where she took up basketball at the age of 11, dropping swimming to take up hoops full time when her height dictated she do so as a teen.
"We do emphasize a lot of shooting (in high school practice in Germany)," Glaeser said. "It's a big difference. Our practices aren't as intense, but we do a lot more shooting. It doesn't matter, big, small, you're out there. So you get used to shooting."
After Glaeser finished high school in Germany, where she learned English, the international business major went to UNLV for two years on scholarship.
"I always knew that if somebody pays for me, I'd want to go and experience playing basketball, but also just go to a different country," Glaeser said. "People tell me I didn't talk a lot, but first of all, I don't talk a lot anyway. As far as culture shock, I don't think so."
When not patrolling the paint and the perimeter for the 49ers (11-4, 6-1), who take their seven-game winning streak to Idaho Thursday and Utah State Saturday, Glaeser also finds time to return to the land of her birth. As a member of the German National Team last summer in a qualifying tournament for the European Championships, Glaeser averaged 2.8 points and 2.7 rebounds off the bench to help Germany finish 5-1 in its pool and earn a berth in the championships, which are this September.
"She poses a lot of problems, because she is 6-6, but she moves so well, is the biggest thing," said LBSU assistant coach Denise Curry, who with fellow assistant Jason Flowers works with the 49ers' post players. "She's a kid who would be super effective at 3 or 4 inches shorter, and you can't say that about a lot of players. (Also), Petra's a much better rebounder this year than she was last season. Even if she doesn't come up with the ball, other teams are so occupied with her that it allows others to come up with the rebound."
Glaeser landed at LBSU after two years at UNLV, where differences with the coach led to her transfer, despite the fact she enjoyed living in Las Vegas. Looking to go to a school where she "knew someone," she followed UNLV assistant Pat Charity to LBSU, but Charity and most of the rest of the staff were gone when then-49er coach Dallas Bolla was forced out after Glaeser redshirted the 2002-03 season.
"I didn't really know a lot about the (LBSU) basketball program, besides that they're Division I," Glaeser said with a laugh. "I knew that the Big West wasn't as strong as the Mountain West. I went with my feeling; I didn't really care too much about basketball at that point. Something told me California, somewhere close to Vegas |
