Last Saturday Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beat Southeastern Louisiana 73-65 in the Southland tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Islanders started conference play 3-6 before winning 7 of their last 8 games to make the NCAA tourney, where they will face fellow #16 seed Texas Southern in Dayton tonight. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi dancer Lissa Hoelscher about winning the conference tourney and her prediction for tonight.
What made you choose Texas A&M-Corpus Christi? I love the beach and chose the school because I love the professional style of the dance team.
How did you 1st get into dancing, and what is the best part? I watched my older sister take ballet lessons when I was about 2 years old, then took my 1st class soon after that. The best part is the growing process: no matter what level you are at there is always an opportunity to get better as a dancer/person. Performing is an amazing adrenaline rush.
You are captain of the dance team: what is the key to being a good leader? Your confidence and being sure of yourself. If you are unsure then the team will feel the same way, which is the last thing you want as a performer.
What do you think the role of a college dancer is today, and how has it changed over time? I think the world of college dancing: everything is bigger and is becoming more athletic. We look at what dancers for pro teams are doing and trying to mimic their style.
What are you majoring in Biology with a concentration in Education: why did you pick those subjects, and what is the post-graduation plan? If you want to teach anatomy/physiology then that is what you need to major in. I would also like to teach dance classes and become a drill-team director.
How frustrating has it been to be a dancer for a great basketball team during a pandemic? I am always grateful for the opportunities that we have, but the most frustrating part was the amount of COVID testing: it requires us to allocate a lot of extra time. Dancing with a mask on has also been a huge challenge. We like to be on top of everything during practice but sometimes we do not know how certain events will run due to different guidelines.
Last Saturday in the Southland tourney title game the Islanders had an 8-PT win over Southeastern Louisiana: how excited was everybody to see them make the NCAA tourney for the 1st time since 2007? I was so excited: I even cried a little bit! It was really cool to see Coach Lutz utilize his players and see them build such great chemistry: it was an incredible feeling.
How does your school decide who gets to go to the NCAA tournament, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? It depends on who has midterms and where we are as dancers. To perform on such a large stage is amazing: I have been dreaming of doing something like this my entire life and it is indescribable. I would like to become an NBA/NFL dancer someday.
Does your squad have anything extra-special planned for the NCAA Tournament? We are just going to do our normal gameday thing. We give it our all at every game and will cheer the team on like there is no tomorrow. We will yell loud and dance big and have a very crowd-interactive routine.
How do you feel about going to Dayton to face Texas Southern, and any predictions? I feel amazing because it is a dream come true and I am extremely grateful that the basketball team has allowed us to go this far. My prediction is that we will leave it all out on the floor. I think we will win and have a lot of faith in our team.