CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Wapakoneta, Ohio, is the hometown of Neil Armstrong, who in 1969 was the first person to set foot on the moon.

So, has the town of about 9,500 had anyone more recently shooting for the sky?

Well, yes. And although you'd never know it from what Lindsey Kentner has accomplished on and off the basketball floor at the University of Charleston, trying to sky so high was an issue she had to overcome.

In the last week, Kentner has been named a College Division first team Academic All-American selection and has been chosen as the West Virginia Conference women's Player of the Year.

The senior biology (pre-med) major and 5-foot-8 guard is a 4.0 student (and was the same at Wapakoneta High) and has scored more than 1,500 career points at UC - and more than 500 in each of the last two seasons. She and three fellow starter classmates and close friends have helped Coach Sherry Winn's team to an 85-33 four-year record.

Still, as the Golden Eagles (22-6) take the No. 1 WVC Tournament seed against Shepherd (15-12) in the 6:30 night session opener of today's quarterfinal round at the Charleston Civic Center, Kentner knows that four years ago, she never thought much of the above would be possible.

She's taken one giant leap for herself and her team.

"We watched her play in high school and we thought she'd be an awesome player, which she's become," Winn said. "She was smart, shot the ball really well, went to the offensive boards, got a lot of steals. Then, in her freshman year here, she spent in hibernation.

"Lindsey didn't shoot the ball well, was nervous, never got into flow of things. We laugh about her freshman year with her now ... She was just frozen on the court sometimes. We had to beg her to shoot the ball, in her sophomore year also, even at the beginning of her junior year. Part of that is she's such a perfectionist."

Kentner, who will turn 22 on St. Patrick's Day, ranks ninth on UC's all-time scoring list with 1,516 points and she still holds her high school's record (1,267 points) in the same category. But even though her next stop is at Ohio State's College of Optometry, she couldn't see the player she had become.

It's that word - perfectionist. It took the psychologist in the UC coach to help Kentner see who she was, and what she meant to the program.

"I am like that, or was," Kentner said one recent day in Eddie King Gym. "Through the years, a big thing that coach has worked with me on is my wanting things to be perfect and thinking too much, and letting things go, letting mistakes go. I know I've grown in my four years.

"My freshman year (when Kentner played in all 28 UC games and averaged 15 minutes and 3.9 points), when I'd miss a shot I'd get so down on myself, the whole game would be over. Now, I miss a shot and go on to the next play.

"I always had a problem with thinking too much, and you can't play if you're thinking. In high school, I had the green light. Here, I was thinking, 'Is this is a good shot?' or not, when to shoot it, when not to shoot it. I killed my whole play by thinking too much."

Winn didn't have to work much on Kentner's game. It was a mind-bending that was needed.

"The summer going into my junior year," the UC star said, "Coach made me do things she knew I would fail at. Like going golfing. I'm really bad at golf; I never did it before. I could barely even hit the ball.

"It wasn't the end of the world. She made me play video games. I'm awful at video games, but they're still fun to play, I learned. Life's not over if you don't win."

When last season started, Winn noticed Kentner still wasn't taking charge like she could have. With Kentner, Tarenna Dixon, Ali Tobias and Tiana Beatty as junior starters, Winn had to get Kentner to believe she was, well, let the coach explain:

"I'll tell you about a conversation we had early in her junior year," Winn said. "I said, 'Lindsey, who do you think our go-to player is?' She looked back at me and she started naming just about every player on the team except her. And I thought, 'Oh, we're in trouble.' If you don't know it's you, we've got some serious issues here."

The juxtaposition of someone wanting to soar while keeping her feet firmly planted in her small-town Midwest roots was something Kentner said she has come to understand in her time on the South Ruffner campus.

She arrived thinking she wanted to go into medicine, but after talking with a Charleston pediatrician who follows UC hoops, Dr. Robin Darnell, Kentner decided the long-term commitment to med school and residency wasn't for her.

"I found out that residency is really tough when trying to raise a family," Kentner said. "I've learned over the past few years that raising a family is big for me. I want - this sounds so corny - but I want to be a soccer mom and drive a minivan. I'm perfectly fine with that.

"The whole med school thing and having a family wouldn't have worked. Optometry is not as much of a time commitment, but I'm still helping people. And that's what I want."

Kentner was second team All-State (Ohio Division II) and there were a couple of Division I colleges she visited, but was primarily a Division II or NAIA prospect. She said UC "just felt right."

"I like knowing everybody," she said. "You can build relationships, there's basketball tradition here.

"It's a perfect balance for me, for academics and basketball. And Charleston is a big city, with things to do."

When UC won the WVC title during her sophomore year, she found a crucial motivation.

"When I came in I didn't really know what to expect," Kentner said, "but I knew I wanted to work hard and what came out of it would come out of it. After my freshman year, I was kind of down. That summer motivated me more to prove everyone wrong, that what I was then was not who I was as a player.

"I worked really hard after that. Then after we won (the title), I thought, 'What a great experience!' It was so much fun, and there are individual awards that come with it, and I wanted us to do whatever need to do to win.

"I wouldn't say there's been disappointment here, because you should learn from failures and mistakes. It's 'lessons learned,' like they say.' Last year, we should have won conference with the talent we had. We learned from last year how to close in big games, how to play together. I think that's helped this year, so I wouldn't say that was a disappointment in the end, because we're better for it."

Kentner said she never dreamed she could rise so high on UC's scoring list - "I thought I'd be lucky to get 500 points after my freshman year" - and she knows the time is running out for hoops with Dixon, Beatty and Tobias as they head into the WVC tourney and another likely NCAA regional berth.

"They've been like my sisters," Kentner said. "Spending four years, going through the program, we've become like family. We know one another so well that we finish each other's sentences. It's also helped, with Coach Winn, her program is so ridiculously tough. Not just workouts, but the mental aspect of it and having one another to talk with about that and going through it.

"It's been great to not only share basketball experiences and getting through things, but figuring out together who we are as people. There's just a bond, and what's off the court comes onto the court.

"I'm the same some ways, but I've changed. I think I'm serious when it comes to basketball, academics and being a good person, but I do like to joke around a lot. I've learned to relax a bit and have more fun.

"Coach teaches you about life. She not only made me a better basketball player, but a better person as well. I'm a better person coming out of here, I've learned to enjoy life more, and not get caught up in the perfectionism.

"I've found a good balance between playing hard and wanting to win, but not having it be your all."