In the spring of 2022, Eleanor Monyek had finished her senior season at Hinsdale Central High, a school in the western suburbs of Chicago, and was having a tough time deciding where she would attend college.
She had scored over 1,000 points in her career, gotten All-State recognition and was being courted by several Division III and NAIA schools, she said.
One was Wittenberg University coached by Tamika Williams-Jeter, who, she said, had made an instant impression:
“The first time I talked to Coach Meek I knew I had to play for her.”
But her plans to come to Wittenberg were jolted when in late March Williams-Jeter was named the new head coach at the University of Dayton.
That’s when Eleanor embraced a fantasy she hoped would fast break to reality.
“Earlier, I had applied to the University of Dayton just as a student, but I still wanted to play basketball at the highest level so I sent a text to Coach Meek asking if I could play for her at UD.
“I knew it was a real shot in the dark.”
Williams-Jeter remembers Eleanor’s big ask:
“At first I said, ‘Let me think about it.’ I told her, ‘You know you’d have to be a walk-on. Do you realize what you’d be giving up? You could go somewhere else and be a real star.’”
Eleanor insisted she wanted to play for Williams-Jeter, no matter what the role and felt if it could be at Dayton, it would be even more perfect: “It’s a Catholic university and my faith is big to me.”
Williams-Jeter — in part because when she took over the program the roster was so depleted by graduation and defection she needed players — agreed Eleanor could walk on.
The adjustment wasn’t always easy for Eleanor who had been the team captain and team MVP and played all the time at Hinsdale Central.
As a UD freshman, she played in 14 of 28 games — a total of 78 minutes — and scored eight points.
Sophomore year she got into eight games and scored 15 points.
Coming into Saturday’s regular season finale against VCU at UD Arena, Eleanor, now a senior, was playing her last ever home game.
Over the past two seasons she had gotten into just 10 games — only four this season — and played a total of 11 minutes. She had scored six points.
And yet, there was no more celebrated player on the team than her.
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Her unbridled energy on the bench — constantly cheering her teammates’ efforts and urging the crowd to cheer them, too — made her beloved by her teammates, the coaches and the fans.
Because of her involvements off the court, she was also a well-known figure to campus administrators and even the hierarchy of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
At UD, she had been named the Most Spirited athlete on campus at the Rudy Awards last year and for the past two years she’d made the All-Academic Team for having the highest grade point average in her sport.
She’s the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee which represents all Flyers athletes on campus.
“She’s probably the face of men’s and women’s basketball at UD,” Williams-Jeter said. “And it’s about more than just being a crowd favorite.
“When President (Eric) Spina leaves campus, he calls on her to go to all the Commissioner Cups. When (athletics director) Neil Sullivan leaves, he calls her to go along.
“When Candy Cage, the Senior Associate Commissioner (Atlantic 10) calls here, she always asks about Eleanor and what she’s doing.”
And after Saturday, Williams-Jeter has a real story to tell Cage.
It was Senior Day and along with Eleanor, four other players — Nayo Lear, Nicole Stephens, Shantavia Dawkins and Maliyah Johnson — were honored with their families in a pregame ceremony on the court.
All five started for the Flyers in what would end up a 79-62 victory. That raised UD’s record to 16-13 going into Thursday’s A-10 Tournament opener in Virginia as a No. 7 seed facing No. 10 George Washington.
As the Flyers head to the postseason, they have nothing but smiles over how the regular season ended.
After playing just one minute, 44 seconds to open the game, Eleanor was back on the bench until the final 1:56 of the fourth quarter.
That’s when Williams Jeter sent her back into the game, a move that got the crowd — some waving “We Love You Eleanor!” signs — cheering in delight.
On the court, the other players made a pact. They were going to get her to score.
Her first attempt was smothered by VCU’s 6-foot-7 post player Hawa Doumbouya and then she missed on a rushed three-pointer from the baseline.
Undaunted, Stephens, the point guard, got her the ball again with 20 seconds left and this time Eleanor cut from the top of the key and scooped in a layup to give the Flyers their final points.
After getting chest bumped and jostled by the other starters, Eleanor was beaming as she headed back down the court as the rest of teammates jumped up and down on the sideline and the crowd cheered.
She laughingly cupped a hand to her ear as though she wanted to hear more cheers and then waggled her hands to the Arena crowd so they’d up the decibels.
On the sideline, Williams-Jeter — who claims she doesn’t tear up on the court — fought back tears.
‘This is where I wanted to be’
There were times Williams-Jeter wondered if Eleanor wouldn’t have rather had a more celebrated college career.
“She could have been a D-III All American and I told her I could get her in this program or that one so she could play more. But she always said, ‘No, I’m a Dayton Flyer.’”
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Credit: Erik Schelkun
Eleanor reiterated that point Saturday: “Absolutely not. I never thought about playing someplace else. This is where I wanted to be. My teammates are my sisters for life and I can’t imagine playing for anybody else but Coach Meek.
“The experiences I’ve gotten having such a strong female leader guide me are invaluable. These have been super formative years for me. I came in here a young 18 year old and now I’m leaving as a mature 22 year old ready to take on grad school and become a physician’s assistant so I can keep helping people.”
“Coach Meek has made all this possible.”
‘I am glad it went in’
Eleanor said she picked up several nicknames while here. Williams-Jeter calls her Easy E. Some teammates dubbed her E Money.
A hip name though doesn’t mean as much as a heartfelt gesture and that came after the game when President Spina came down on the court, embraced her and told her how proud he was of her.
Teammate Molly O’Riordan broke into tears when they posed for a photo in front of the bench.
Soon several young fans — black and white, boys and girls — had crowded around her for autographs. One girl handed her a bouquet of flowers. An older woman crowded close to get her in a selfie.
Some of her best friends from the volleyball team and a former UD teammates held her in their arms for a photo and soon her family embraced her.
“This has just been the perfect day,” she said. “Getting to start, getting put back in and then getting the bucket at the end, I couldn’t ask for more.”
With a laugh, she added, “I am glad it went in.”
At that moment, she was money: E-Money.
Williams-Jeter agreed: “To me there was no better exclamation point to her career than to see her score at the end.”
Eleanor said it meant more to her because of her teammates: “I love them all. They did everything they could to make it happen. They wanted me to score … and I did.”
And so, what once was a shot in the dark became a shot she’ll always remember.
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