When Shimmy Gray-Miller was announced as head coach of the Saint Louis University women’s basketball program, one of the first priorities she mentioned was heavily recruiting the St. Louis Metro area. She jumped quickly to the Metro-East, signing four players in her first two years at the helm.

Four years later, only Lauren Woods remains.  At the beginning, Gray-Miller described Woods as “a must sign for us … a mature leader with unlimited potential.” Today, Woods is set to leave the Billikens as an Atlantic 10 All-Conference honoree.

Woods came to SLU after four incredibly successful years at Belleville East High School in Belleville, Ill. As a Lancer, the six-foot forward averaged 15.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.45 steals her senior season, landing her awards from All-Conference selections to an Associated Press Class AA All-State honorable mention. Her team also advanced to the super-sectionals in the Illinois State Playoffs.

“High school was a blast,” Woods said. “We had a pretty successful high school career as a team. I had four great years of building on my skills. I think, entering high school, I was still raw, so developing my skills and building on them was a lot of fun.”

Her career as a Lancer grabbed the attention of several schools, including Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Illinois State, Evansville and Southern Illinois-Carbondale. But Woods forwent the opportunity to play for of the bigger BCS schools to stay close to home and play for Gray-Miller. Woods said becoming a Billiken provided the chance to “do something that had not been done before, come in and help build a program, and lay the foundation for something that had never been done at SLU.”

What she did not expect was playing alongside Metro-East rival Theresa Lisch. An Althoff High School graduate, Lisch regularly faced Woods on the court and gained the respect of her would-be teammate through her competition and drive.

“When I heard I was going to play with Theresa, I thought, ‘I get to play with one of the best players in the area, and it’s going to be fun playing with her instead of going head to head,’” Woods said. The combination would move the Billikens into the conversation of competitive A-10 basketball.

Woods’ first year at SLU was a quiet one. Though she appeared in 26 games, she started just seven. She averaged less than six points per game.

“College was a big transition,” she said. “You think you’ve worked the ultimate and done all you can do. Then you get to college and realize you’ve never worked this hard before. You’re level of time to the game and extra work takes you to another step.

“I think that’s the main difference from high school. There, you know, you’re the tallest girl and naturally athletic, so you have the advantage. But in college, you have to put in the extra work to have the advantage because everyone is as good as you.”

If her freshman year proved that she needed to work harder to be the athlete she wanted to be, then her sophomore year showed she was up to the task. Woods played in all 30 games (career high) and started six, was third on the team in points (career-high 233), free throws made (career-high 74), free-throw attempts (career-high 111), total rebounding average (career-high 4.8 rpg), offensive rebounds (career-high 52), offensive rebounding average (career-high 1.73 orpg), assists (career-high 57), assists per game (1.90) and steals (career-high 29). She also posted career highs for a season in scoring average (7.8 ppg), total rebounds (144), field goals made (79), minutes (841) and minutes per game (28.0).

The Swansea, Ill., native attributes the dramatic shift in performance to a changed perspective of the game. “Coach Gray talks a lot about being a student of the game,” she said. “That really helped me. As the years went on, I began to watch other players. I really emerged myself into the game.”

Everything was looking up for Woods and the Billikens. And then, the unexpected happened. Lisch, who had set school records in almost every category and was named an Academic All-American, decided to forego her final year of eligibility and left the Billikens following the 2008-09 season. Her departure meant Woods, a junior, would see a lot more floor time.

It also meant that the team’s goals of competing for a conference title vanished. SLU finished 11-19 overall and 5-9 (tied for ninth) in the A-10 in the 2009-10 season. Woods still received recognition for her hard work and was named the A-10’s Most Improved Player and received honorable-mention plaudits.

The current season will not produce a title either. After a 92-60 loss on Wednesday, Feb. 16, to No. 6 Xavier, the Billikens are 7-19 on the season and 1-10 in the A-10.

Woods will leave SLU with unfinished goals. Despite this, she looks at the impact the program had on her and where SLU basketball is headed.

“I’ve worked with a great group of girls the last four years,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for better teammates. I think that’s a positive, too. Sometimes it’s not about what you did but the way other people have impacted you and how you impacted others.”

Woods also does not think she will have any regrets about her time in a Billiken jersey. “Knowing that the hard work put in by me and my teammates won’t go unnoticed by the further classes that come along, that’s part of laying the foundation,” she reflected.

“It takes more than four years to build a program. You know, being one of the pioneers that went through the hard times and not having the most successful seasons, I hope that propels the younger classes to come into SLU and get it done.”

After the Billikens’ final game this season, Woods said she expects to retire from the hardwood. In her future is law school, where she hopes to “work hard to be a great attorney,” though she admitted if the opportunity to coach or play basketball elsewhere presented itself, she would consider it.

Through it all, Woods has delivered a passion to a struggling program. Her performance on the court and her legacy at SLU has moved the program in a positive direction. She hopes her time here inspires future Billikens to be as passionate and devoted as she was, traits she said she acquired from her parents.

“My parents really inspire me,” Woods said. “They have always instilled in me the importance of hard work and accomplishing goals that you have and finishing things. That’s been an on-going theme here, no matter how tough it gets, you have to keep fighting through and finish strong.”