Athlete of the Week: Caroline Roelle, Oakwood

Roelle is a senior guard for Oakwood basketball. In her team’s three games against Edgewood, Waynesville and Carlisle, she averaged 23.0 points and 6.7 rebounds. She set a school record with nine 3-pointers made in the Dec. 13 game against Carlisle.

For her efforts, Roelle was named the Dayton Daily News Athlete of the Week for Dec. 8 through Dec. 14, earning the honor through reader voting at DaytonDailyNews.com.

“I didn’t even know I was nominated until I checked the website because I saw (Libby Bunsold) was nominated too and then that was a surprise to me,” Roelle said. “That was really fun and then just having my community support really means a lot too.”

Roelle shot 9-for-15 from three and scored 34 points in the win against Carlisle. Her previous career high for makes in a game from the beyond the arc was only three before she tripled that total.

She said after the Waynesville game on Dec. 11 she spoke with parents of team members and others who encouraged her to hold a higher self-confidence in her abilities and, frankly, to shoot the ball more.

She had three in the first quarter, five by halftime, and tied the school mark of eight going to the fourth quarter. Prior to the game she had spoken with one of her coaches about goals they had set for her to reach 30 points in a game and shoot for that record.

Having already reached the first mark, she admitted she had the green light to go for the record.

“After they get going in, you know, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take,” Roelle said. “Obviously that was like a really hot shooting day and not every game is going to be like that.”

Not every game may be as good as that one, but Roelle has performed well in the team’s first seven games.

She ranked second in the league in scoring average (19.3), third in field goal percentage (51.0), and sixth in 3-point percentage (44.9) this season.

Roelle is committed to play at Grove City College, a Christian school in Pennsylvania. Faith plays a large role as to what inspires her to perform well on the court.

“He’s just blessed me with an amazing, supportive family that has always inspired me to do my best and to chase my dreams,” she said.

Oakwood is off to a 5-2 start to its season. Roelle said one of her goals is to help the team win a district title. She said the record she set was more of a team goal due to her teammate’s assistance on the court and she hopes together they achieve their postseason dreams.

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