Nora Ausland, Pennsville’s puzzle master
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – Every athlete looks forward to that special year that’s their senior high school season, but Pennsville girls basketball player Nora Ausland has a lot more than one reason to be excited about the year ahead.
One last chance to play the game she’s dedicated her life to is only part of it. She has the chance to finish her high school career for the coach she started it with at another school, she’s on the verge of becoming a 1,000-point scorer and later in the year she’ll get to play in an NBA arena.
Along the way she may even rekindle the spark for a sport she loves but has been muted a little over the past two seasons, perhaps rekindle it to the point of wanting to play on the next level.
The final adventure started for Ausland Tuesday afternoon, but before taking part in her first preseason practice she spent some a few minutes with Riverview Sports News talking about her hopes and expectations for the year ahead and putting together the puzzle that has made her the player she has become.
RIVERVIEW SPORTS NEWS: Today was your first day of practice for your senior season. There’s a lot going on in the Pennsville girls basketball program this year. What are you hopes and expectations for your senior year?
NORA AUSLAND: I hope I can reach my 1,000 points this season, which would be exciting for me, and I hope we can all learn to play together and learn to grow so we have a good season this year.
RSN: How much have you been anticipating your senior season?
NA: I didn’t think I would be so excited or so scared, but now that I’m here I’m like a little excited to play.
RSN: You’ve got a lot going on – a new coach, going for 1,000 points, playing in an NBA arena late in the season – so how interesting a year will it be?
NA: I think it’s the coolest season I’ve had yet. I forgot we were going to the NBA court (they play Clayton in the Wells Fargo Center Feb. 11), and I get to score my 1,000 and have another chance to play and have fun.
RSN: How excited were you when Coach Merritt got the job. You played for him your freshman year at Salem. Are you excited to be with him again?
NA: I was very excited when I found out he had the job because freshman year was one of my best years yet and it was one of my favorite years, so I’m glad he’s back and that he’s here to coach us and help us.
RSN: How was your experience with him that one year and what’s he going to bring to your program that may be different than what’s been here before?
NA: Freshman year was one of my best year. Not only does he like tell us what to do he helps us figure out what to do and figure out how to do it and he helps people who aren’t as skilled to learn the skill, which is why I like him so much. A few of our girls need to grow more and learn more, so I’m glad he’s back.
It was fun playing for him because it wasn’t like you’d just practice, practice, practice, we would have fun. At the end of it he would allow us to shoot for fun, so it was fun. He can be (a tough guy) if you’re not paying attention or goofing off, but usually no.
RSN: Have you ever been served by him at the ice cream stand? (Merritt helps out at Hudock’s Custard Stand in Salem during ice cream season).
NA: I have not. I didn’t go there this year at all.
RSN: How was your first year at Pennsville last year and how quick was the adjustment?
NA: I’m glad everyone accepted me because I was a new student and a new player on a new team. I’m friends with everyone. The coaching really messed me up last year. It was different. I wasn’t used to that.
The transfer was fine. A bunch of people came up to me and talked to me and invited me to do stuff, which is nice, so I could fit in. Coming here was a great idea.
RSN: I know you’re on the verge of 1,000 points. (She needs 193 points to become the eighth Pennsville girls with 1,000 and needs 98 rebounds for 500 of those). How big a goal is that for you?
NA: It wasn’t even something that was in my that I could do, but after my freshman year and I got as many points as I did I realized that wow I can actually do this. But my sophomore year when I broke my foot, I was gone for half a season, really worried me because I didn’t know if I’m going to be able to do that. But last year and this year it’s going to be a good year so I’ll definitely be able to get that.
RSN: Did your brother getting it inspire you to want to do it? (Gage Ausland graduated from Salem in 2020 with 1,144 points at Salem and is 32nd on the Salem County boys scoring list.)
NA: I guess my dad influenced me the most. He’d always tell me to work hard, don’t give up, when you’re in the game actually try, don’t sit there and be whatever. I want to try this year. I want to get my 1,000th point.
RSN: If you play to last year’s scoring average (13.8 ppg), 1000 would come Jan. 23 at home against Salem. If you play to your career average (12.8), it would come Jan. 28 at home against Overbrook. Would you rather get it against your old team, the Wells Fargo Center or it doesn’t matter as long as you get it?
NA: It doesn’t really matter where it happens, once I get it I’ll be happy for myself, but having it in the Wells Fargo Center would be pretty cool. That would be nice.
RSN: How did you learn about the team playing in the Wells Fargo Center? How much are you looking forward to the experience and what’s the biggest arena you’ve ever played in before?
NA: My dad told me. I guess he got the schedule and then he told me about it and I was like, that’s really cool.
I don’t think I’ve ever played in a big arena, just high school gyms. I’ve been in the Salem Community College gym, but that’s pretty much it. Playing in the Wells Fargo Center definitely will be like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, especially this young. I’m very excited. I’m very nervous, too. That’s a lot of pressure.
RSN: You’re a basketball-only player, don’t do anything else but play basketball. What’s it like dedicating yourself to one sport all year round?
NA: It feels good knowing that I can get better every year and work all the time all year round and not have another sport in my way in doing something that I actually want to do. Having only one sport, I think that’s good for me. It’s basketball, I grew up on basketball. It’s the only sport I like.
RSN: What’s the neatest basketball experience you’ve ever had?
NA: Probably my freshman year, our first round of the playoffs. We were the higher seed and we were told we were going to lose, but we actually won that game. It was a really fun experience. (Seventh-seeded Salem beat Schalick 34-27 and Ausland had 15 points, 18 rebounds and six blocked shots).
RSN: Earlier this month a lot of seniors signed to play college sports. Were you one of them or have you committed to college going forward? Basically, where’s your recruiting stand?
NA: I don’t want to play in college. The past two years, sophomore and junior years, the coaches made me lose my love for basketball.
Maybe I can get the spark back this year. I probably can because I have Merritt as a coach. I hope I can.
RSN: So what are your plans beyond high school?
NA: I’m going to go to Salem Community College for however long it is to get my Associate’s in accounting and then go to Rowan to do my accounting classes.
RSN: When did you make that decision to not play college basketball?
NA: Last year. It was hard (and she starts tearing up as she thinks about it). I always said I want to go to the WNBA, blah, blah, blah, but the past two years just messed with me.
RSN: Let’s wrap up with some fun stuff. What do you do off the basketball court?
NA: I don’t do much. I just go to school and then to practice and then go home. I don’t do much.
I do puzzles.
RSN: See, there’s something. What’s the biggest puzzle you’ve put together?
NA: A 2,000-piece. It was a picture of Las Vegas. I have like 10 puzzles all done and I hang them up on my wall. I like the challenge of it.
The first one I did I started in eighth grade and then I just stopped doing it because I couldn’t do it, and then I picked it back up again my sophomore year. The Las Vegas one took me four days. My 100-piece ones or 1000-piece ones took me like a day or two.
Riverview Sports News 