Tuesday, March 27, 2001
XU scores with Finnish line
Connection dates to '95
By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Xavier women's basketball coach Melanie Balcomb has a rule that applies to only two of her players. No speaking Finnish on the court.
The rule is for starters Taru Tuukkanen and Reetta Piipari, both from Finland.
XU's Finnish line was established before Balcomb came to Cincinnati. Susanna Stromberg, another Finn who played from 1995-99, had committed to play at Xavier under previous coach Mark Ehlen and was in school when time came for Tuukkanen to make her decision about where to play.
“It was kind of a last-minute decision. I was debating whether I should stay in Finland or come here,” said Tuukkanen, a senior, Xavier's leading scorer and a member of the Finnish Junior National team that won the Scandinavian Championship. “A couple of weeks before school started, I called coach and asked her if I could come.
“We had another Finnish player before me, and that's how they heard about me and how I heard about Xavier.”
Piippari, a sophomore, played high school basketball in Minster, Ohio, where she won the state championship as a junior but could not play as a senior because of rules governing exchange students. Her father, Risto, is the coach of the Finnish national team.
“It's great to have somebody there,” Piippari said of Tuukkanen. “It's safer. It's nice another Finnish kid is there to talk to in your own language if you want to. It has made a big difference.”
Piippari, who led the nation with 8.5 assists a game and made the Atlantic 10 Conference second team, isn't the only member of the family to play college basketball in the United States. Brother Riku played for Division III Averett College in Virginia.
In August, the team went on a 10-day, four-game tour of Finland. Tuukkanen's aunt, a tour guide, gave the players and coaches a tour of Helsinki.
“I'll take players from anywhere if they can play,” Balcomb said. “I had a connection with a Finnish player who was there when I got there.”
The Finns aren't the only foreigners on the Xavier team.
Freshman center Colleen Yukes is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; and freshman forward Aida Sarajlija is from Zenica, Bosnia.
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XU scores with Finnish line
