The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team traveled to New Orleans for a basketball game Friday night. The squad lost to Tulane 91-64. But what the Billikens did before the contest matters more than a basketball game.

The Bills visited St. David’s grade school Friday afternoon. St. David’s is a Catholic school in New Orleans’ lower ninth ward, an area similar to North St. Louis. There are 254 students at the school. The players chatted with fourth through eighth graders and fielded questions.

“It went extremely well,” said Sister Teresa Rooney, C. H. F., the principal. “The children were very excited with the team coming.”

Pete Cerneka, the former sports editor of The University News, planned the trip for the team. Cerneka teaches at St. David’s as a volunteer for the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Catholic order in New Orleans. When Cerneka visited the school in the summer, he found that there weren’t any girls athletic teams. In August, he talked to coach Jill Pizzotti about bringing the Bills over to St. David’s for a trip. Details of the visit were finalized in January.

“I wanted to show the girls, and for that matter the boys as well, that athletics can help them fulfill their dreams,” said Cerneka. “It was just an idea to help the girls of the school. But I think it helped everyone.”

After a morning workout, the Billikens took a bus over to St. David’s. The team split up into groups of two or three and went to grades 4-8. At first, the children seemed tentative about talking to the players, but the children soon took to the squad.

“They really seemed to hit it off,” Cerneka said. “It was kind of hard to pull them out of the room.”

The children asked questions about school, practice, travel and when the players started playing basketball.

“They had a lot of good questions, and I think we had a positive influence on them,” said guard Kara Wile.

The children enjoyed the Bills visit. They were eager to talk about the experience and wished that the team didn’t have to leave.

“They told us the story about how they got their mascot, the Billiken,” said sixth grader Joshua Smith. “It was pretty cool.”

Dominique Capote, an eighth grader, said, “They talked about how girls should be in more sports in the world today.” Capote said that she wanted to be a basketball player after listening to April McKinney, Harmonie King and Mandy Lueking speak. She’s currently a cheerleader for the basketball team.

Darrelyn Smith, the only girl on the basketball team, became a Billiken fan after the visit. Her goal is to be a basketball player, too.

“I was really happy because I’m the only girl (on the team),” said Smith. “I really thank the girls for using their extra time to come see our school,” Smith said.

Sister Teresa hopes that the team’s visit will result in more girls participating in sports.

“I hope it will encourage the girls to be more interested in sports,” Sister Teresa said. “Maybe next year we’ll get a team together.”

“We did this with the intent to help the younger kids,” said Pizzotti. “I’m not sure that we didn’t get more out of it. I could be with the little kids all day.”

Wile said, “Any time you can help kids out, whether it’s five minutes or three hours, it’s great.”