At the end of his daughter’s freshman season at Division I Manhattan College, Dave Brown had a serious conversation with a frustrated Lindsay Brown.

“She said, ‘Dad, I’m never going to play basketball after college, so I want to enjoy it,” Dave said. “‘I want to have fun.’”

Later that spring, Ithaca College Head Coach Dan Raymond received a phone call from now-senior Lindsay, who expressed an interest in transferring. Raymond jumped at the opportunity.

“We recruited her out of high school,” he said. “It came down to us or Manhattan. I remember her telling me that she felt like she wanted to give DI a try because if she didn’t, she would feel like she would regret it.”

After appearing in 12 games as a Jasper, Lindsay felt that basketball had lost its luster. The excitement that it used to bring was gone.

“Basketball was kind of like a job,” she said. “It became not fun anymore. I went to practice and all this stuff because I had to, not because I wanted to.”

Once Lindsay made that phone call to Raymond, the fun began. Ithaca not only had the ideal basketball situation at the Division III level but the major she wanted in occupational therapy, as well. She was on her way to becoming a Bomber.

To become a true Bomber, though, Lindsay had to deal with the timetable of adjustment that comes with being a transfer student. But she transitioned quickly as her teammates were impressed from the beginning. When fellow senior Katherine Bixby heard Lindsay was coming, she couldn’t wait to get on the court with her.

“The fact that she was transferring from a DI school got me really excited,” Bixby said. “Then when we saw her play, it just got better.”

Growing up with a father as a coach and two older brothers, Lindsay learned basketball from an early age.

“She would come to my practices ever since she was 5 or 6,” Dave said. “She would dribble and shoot. She grew up basically a gym rat.”

After letting that play do some of the talking, Lindsay’s personality made the other half of the adjustment period simple. By playing in travel leagues and on AAU teams since the age of 12, she was already used to meeting new people and playing on different teams.

“Her personality allowed her to blend as a part of the team almost immediately,” Raymond said. “She kept things light, and she’s very easy going.”

Flash forward to 2010. Ithaca is worn proudly on the front of the senior’s jersey as the team’s second leading scorer. Her ponytail bounces and flops in the air. Her cheeks are a rosy red from running. And the team has clinched the No. 1 seed in the Empire 8 Conference Championships, which the Bombers will host  Feb. 26, thanks to the leadership of Lindsay and Bixby.

Appropriately, Lindsay’s game has filled out completely. The fans in the stands have seen her drain rainmakers from three-point land from the first day she stepped on campus, but she is now defending the opposition’s best player as well.

“On offense she is a playmaker; on defense she is a stopper,” Raymond said.

Most importantly, the senior is having the time of her life.

“From the beginning of the season I thought we were going to be good,” Lindsay said. “Right now, I’m wishing the season will never end.”