Destination: Aggieland

There are no airlines that will fly you from Bismarck, North Dakota, to College Station—with a layover in Tucson, Arizona. But that’s the route Lauren Ware has flown to Texas A&M.

And the Aggies couldn’t be any happier she’s landed here.

The junior forward has made an instant impact out of the transfer portal in coach Joni Taylor’s year-two women’s basketball squad. Sure, the numbers back that up—as of mid-January, she led the team in rebounds and is the Aggies’ fourth-leading scorer.

But ‘Mama Bear’, as Taylor affectionally calls her, has not only been huge for the growth of the program on the court. Perhaps more importantly, she’s been huge off it.

“She’s just got a maturity about her that you don’t see,” Taylor said. “She had it when I met her as a freshman. Some people have it, but don’t do anything with it. What’s special about her is she’s someone who has it, acts on it and uses it.”

Ware plays with a unique mix of both a fire and a calming presence. She can be high-energy after a huge momentum shift, and 30 seconds later will be the first to offer encouragement or instruction to a teammate.

“I’ve said this a few times, but when she speaks, everyone shuts up,” Taylor said. “She just brings that resume with her, not only being in the Final Four as a freshman, but her experience with USA Basketball…she walks the talk. She does what she says she’s going to do. Is she perfect? No. But she shows up every single day with her hard hat on, says the right things and does the right things. And so, it earns everybody’s respect. She’s reliable, and you can count on her.”

Hailing from a state (North Dakota) where exposure is incredibly tough to come by—one would assume due to geography as much as anything—she was still a top-15 recruit nationally and one of the five best post players in the country, according to ESPN.com. Ware and her family would regularly drive six hours many weekends to Minnesota to play in big AAU tournaments, and that drew the attention of some of the country’s top programs.

It wasn’t just basketball that she excelled in at Bismarck’s Century High School—she was a standout volleyball player and a top-50 recruit nationally in that sport as well. An offseason injury in that sport, however, derailed her senior year. No volleyball, no basketball, and no collegiate home…yet.

“It was really devastating for me,” Ware said. “It was my (senior) year, and I was like, ‘what am I going to do?’ I hadn't even committed to a school yet at that point when I had torn my ACL. So, are people going to back out on me? (I was thinking) Stuff like that. It was just a really tough time, but I think it taught me a lot, not just as an athlete, but as a person, trying to find out who I was as a person. It taught me to figure out things that I enjoy outside of basketball to kind of identify myself as, and not lean so much on me as a basketball player. I think that taught me a lot and (taught me) to have that mental toughness to overcome something like that.”

While the knee injury took away her senior season, what it did not steal from her was a chance to play at the next level. Ware earned a scholarship to the University of Arizona to play both basketball and volleyball.

Then the pandemic hit.

Upon arrival in Tucson, Ware decided to focus strictly on basketball, and had a freshman year to remember for many reasons. Playing in empty and socially-distanced arenas, she was part of a team that made a magical run to the NCAA Championship game in the Alamodome in San Antonio—falling short of the title by one point to conference rival Stanford, 54-53.

“It was an amazing experience,” Ware said. “I mean, obviously, COVID kind of made it look a little different than it would have if it were to be now…but wow. It was a crazy experience. That experience of going to the Final Four, making it to the national championship game, as a freshman…that was something that was really cool for me. It showed me what it took to get to that point, and I think it was really good for me to have that so early.”

That summer she earned a spot on the United States’ U-19 national team, which was competing in the World Cup in Hungary. It was there that she would get to know one of the team’s assistants—then the head coach at Georgia.

Joni Taylor.

“That was the first time I ever met her,” Ware recalls. “I knew of her, obviously. But she didn’t recruit me in high school or anything like that. I just fell in love with her and her coaching style.”

Fast forward to the fall, and year two at Arizona, which saw Ware become an everyday starter. The Wildcats again made the tournament, but this time bowed out in the second round. Heading into what would have been her junior year, Ware again suffered an injury and was forced to redshirt the 2022-23 campaign.

It was then that decided to dip her toe into the transfer portal and look for a new home to finish her collegiate career.

“When I entered the portal, I honestly had no clue where I wanted to go. I was kind of just waiting to see who would kind of reach out. And Joni was someone who was honestly in the back of my mind from the beginning when I entered the portal…so when she reached out to me, I was elated. I was so happy. She was the one I was kind of waiting for.”

But, of all the coaches out there…why Joni Taylor?

“She's just really who she is,” Ware said. “Who she presents herself as to the public is how she is behind closed doors. She doesn’t put on a front. She's really honest, and she's just a really strong person. She's someone that you aspire to be. She's a role model. So, I think for young women, as student-athletes, that’s someone you want to play for and someone you want to learn from. Because obviously, outside of basketball, there's much more to life. When the basketball is done, what are you going to do? And she's someone who I think can prepare us women for that point in time.”

By all accounts, the match couldn’t have gone better. Ware, along with her teammates, have Texas A&M positioned for a pretty fun season. They have embraced the grind, enjoyed the ride and continue to put in the work. It’s been a long road for Lauren Ware, but one that has led her to call College Station home. And she couldn’t be happier.

“This has probably been the easiest transition I could have expected,” Ware said. “Joni and the team have made this an amazing experience for me so far. Everyone’s been welcoming with open arms. It’s an amazing place, the fans, the school…I haven’t experienced anything like it.”