Central standout Wilken will be a Billiken

Forsaking the bright lights of Chicago and a program that has made the NCAA Tournament 13 times since 2003, Central High School senior Kendra Wilken will instead be playing college basketball right across the Mississippi River.

A unanimous Class 2A first team all-state selection a year ago and one of the top high school players in the St. Louis area for the past two seasons, Wilken has given a verbal commitment to attend St. Louis University beginning in the 2016-17 season.

The 6-foot-2 Wilken, who committed to play at DePaul University last winter, decommitted from coach Doug Bruno’s program in June and Monday informed St. Louis University coach Lisa Stone that she would be a Billiken in a little over a year.

“When I chose DePaul, coach Stone wished me well but that if things didn’t work out at DePaul to keep them (SLU) in mind,’’ Wilken said Wednesday. “They (St. Louis U) were right about .500 last season and they are a very young basketball program. I’m hoping that if we work hard that we can make the program very strong in the next few years.

The Billikens are getting one of the premier players in the state in any class in Wilken, who has been a mainstay with the Cougars high-powered program for the past three years. She averaged 20 points and 12 rebounds per game last season in leading Central to a record of 31-4 and a second-place finish at the Class 2A State Tournament.

Ranked second on the Cougars’ all-time scoring list with 1,663 points and first in rebounds with 837, Wilken also has a tremendous work ethic and also is one of the state’s top high school volleyball players.

But basketball is Wilken’s passion and it looked as is she was going to join a DePaul team which includes former Mater Dei High School standout Brooke Schulte in the late summer of 2016.

But a few weeks after the Cougars completed their season, Wilken made her official visit to the Chicago-based DePaul campus. It didn’t take long for Wilken to figure out something wasn’t right in her own mind.

“Coach (Doug) Bruno and his staff were great and I really liked the girls on the team. They were great to me and fun to be around,” Wilken said. “But it was just so big. I mean I know it’s Chicago and it’s a huge place, but on my visit when we would go off campus, the area was so large that I just didn’t feel comfortable. My mom and dad were there with me, but were staying in a hotel. When I would see them, I just told them it didn’t seem right.

“They advised me when we got home to not make any snap decisions. To think about it for a couple of weeks. I did and I still didn’t feel comfortable. Coach Bruno was great about everything though. He told me that while he was disappointed I wasn’t coming to school there, that he understood that I just wasn’t comfortable. He wanted me to go somewhere I would be happy.’’

Wilken then reopened the recruiting with Butler and Illinois State among the schools she considered, along with SLU. Bruno even told Wilken that Eastern Illinois University was interested.

But the fact that SLU is a young program and close to home, where family and friends will be able to watch her play for a NCAA Division I team in the Atlantic 10 Conference, played a big factor in her final decision.

Wilken will be joined at SLU by another former Cahokia Conference player. Paige Rakers, who played at Carlyle High School and has played the last two years at the University of Michigan, is tranfering to SLU. Rakers will have to two years of eligibility with the Billikens.

“It’s nice to be able to go into a new situation and having somebody you know there. It makes the transition easier,’’ said Wilken. “I’m looking forward to having Paige as well as all the other players at SLU as teammates.

“It’s going to be nice playing close to home. My parents wanted me to go to school where I’ll be happy and so anyplace where I would have gone where I would be content would have been fine with them. But I know they’re happy that they will get to see me play a more often. My grandparents too. They love watching me play and were sad I was going so far from home. So I know they will really enjoy coming to a lot of my games at SLU.’’

This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 9:10 PM with the headline "Central standout Wilken will be a Billiken."