Bonnies Baseline: Half A World Away, Right at Home

Lola Gralton traveled around the globe to start her Bonaventure journey, but it only took a couple of days for her decision to uproot from her home in Australia to the Enchanted Mountains of Western New York to be validated.

“I went to training one of the first days and just the way that Coach Kelcie (Rombach) offered to train and do individuals with me, I knew there were like-minded people here,” the freshman guard said. “The girls do individual workouts outside of training almost every day. We might train for two hours and then lift, but we all still want to put shots up after all that. Immediately I was like, I’m going to get better in this environment. We all want to compete; we all want the same things. That was the moment I realized I made a good decision.”

Her dream of playing college basketball in America took hold a couple of years ago when she started putting up eye-popping numbers in high school, averaging over 20 points and nine rebounds per game. 

“I would describe my game as pretty versatile. I have strength, I’m decently long. I like to drive first, but I also like to shoot,” she said. “I like to be physical, to do the dirty work. That’s my game.”

Part of her style on the court came from an unexpected source – the pool, where she played water polo back home.

“My aggression kind of translated from that to playing basketball. You can get away with a lot more in water polo since it’s underwater,” she said. “I liked that I could use some of the aggression you can’t get out in basketball into water polo.”

Lola follows in the footsteps of her mother, Cindy, who played basketball. “My parents always had a debate over what sport I was going to play and I think mom got her way,” Lola says with a smile. “I started playing basketball and loved it. She’s been my biggest influence in basketball, my biggest supporter.”

Gralton isn’t making her first trip to the U.S. – she spent a month at a time stateside over the past two years on AAU trips – but the adjustment can still bring a level of homesickness. 

There’s a 14-hour time difference between Olean and Sydney, meaning that calls back home need to be specially scheduled. She talks with her family in the evenings here when it is about 7 a.m. back home and they’re just getting ready to head off to work for the day.

“It’s hard, but we schedule our times to talk to each other. It’s important that we put that time aside to talk because I’m so close with them,” she said.

Gralton joins a Bonnies squad that brings back a nucleus of talent from last year’s breakout squad that saw the program make an 11-win improvement and return to the national postseason including a WNIT victory on home court. 

It will be 11 months from the time she arrived on campus for summer workouts until she next travels home to Australia. During breaks, she’ll stay in California with family friends where her parents will come to meet her.

During that time, she'll continue adjusting to the American college game, which she said is similar in many ways but features a faster, more physical style than what she experienced back home. 

“The style of play back home is a bit more structured; there’s a bit less physicality. There are more fouls called,” she said, adding that the style of the American game fits her nature on the court better. “I like the style of play here a bit better because I can be more aggressive. The speed is a bit faster over here, but the physicality is the distinct difference.”

While some things are different about the game, what remains the same is how the relationships made on and off the court can shape who players are.

“Each team you have, it’s a different group where everyone brings something different,” she said. “They all become role models in a way. You work so hard, you have to be patient. It’s a process. You can’t rush it.”

Though Gralton’s basketball journey has already logged a ton of miles, it’s one that is just beginning.

“Basketball has taken me to America. It lets me experience things I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’m getting used to it and enjoying it.”