Lacy Stokes will jump on Interstate 44 and head east for about an hour to take her talents to Springfield at Missouri State.
And she will pass her hometown of Mount Vernon about halfway there.
“The home thing definitely played a factor in my decision,” Stokes said.
Stokes dreamed of playing at the Division I level as a young athlete. She even dreamed of becoming a Bear one day because of someone who is now on the coaching staff at MSU.
Kenzie Kostas (Williams) is also a graduate of Mount Vernon High School and she joined the Bears’ program in 2022. Kostas also played at Missouri State and graduated in 2016 before going on to coach five seasons at Central Missouri as a graduate assistant and then an assistant. Last year, she was an assistant at Florida Atlantic.
“I kind of got to grow up watching her play at Mount Vernon and there (Missouri State),” Stokes said. “I think that’s where my dream of getting to play there started.”
But, just having the opportunity to play after high school means a lot to Stokes.
“I think any opportunity to play after high school is amazing,” she added. “Once you get to that age you realize any opportunity is a blessing. I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity coach (Ronnie) Ressel gave me.”
The proximity to home was key for her in this move. Stokes noted that her family and friends in the Mount Vernon area will be about the same distance from her to come and watch home games. Even former teammates, coaches and fans in Joplin will just be an hour down the interstate.
Stokes has talked about the support she gets from her father, Caleb, and stepmother Goldie, as well as her mother, Jessica, and stepfather, Jeff Jones, and how much it means just to have them at her games.
Some college athletes take the same route as Stokes by staying closer to home and others end up on the other side of the country or at least a long distance from where they grew up. Stokes believes that just comes down to a personality.
“I think it just comes down to the type of person you are,” she said. “Obviously everyone loves home and they love having their family support, but some people’s dream is to get out in the world.
“I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all,” she said. “I would have loved to go to GCU (Grand Canyon University) and played for coach (Molly) Miller. I think that would have been a great experience for me. I just feel like the path that I was supposed to go down was at Missouri State.”
A little less than a month ago, Stokes talked about how she couldn’t have told the younger her “no” when trying to pursue a dream. Now she’s set out to fulfill that dream and has it right in front of her.
“It’s really unbelievable, she said. “I don’t think it’s really set in yet. And it probably won’t until my first game at Missouri State.
“I couldn’t be more thankful. I’ve been really lucky in my life with the people that are in it and the way that I was raised, and the opportunities I’ve been given and what I’ve been able to do with them. I have to thank my family but I also have to thank God, mostly. … To see little Lacy’s dreams getting fulfilled makes me take a step back because I realize how lucky I really am.”
As Stokes focuses on taking her game to the next level she believes putting in the work and preparing herself for a tougher game is what it will take to be successful. She knows talent will be deeper on teams, including her own. She looks to share the ball as the point guard for the Bears saying there will be multiple “dominant scorers” on her team.