Former Ashland U women's hoops standout Laina Snyder is still playing the sport she loves

Former Ashland University women's basketball All-American Laina Snyder has continued to excel at the sport she so dearly loves, playing in New Zealand with Southern Hoiho.

"After graduating from AU, I worked for a year as a marketing specialist at Spherion of Ashland before getting the call from my Australian club to turn pro," the 2018 AU graduate said. "Since then, I have been able to play professionally in Australia, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg (two seasons) and now in New Zealand."

Snyder is enjoying playing down under.

"I am loving my experience in New Zealand,” she said. “It is much colder than I had anticipated as it is wintertime here, and there is no central heating, so the gyms are always freezing inside, but the people and the team have been amazing. I haven't met a single person yet that isn't nice. It’s a very laid-back culture but with a great work ethic, so I think I fit in pretty well. I've said the slogan for (my current city) Dunedin should be, ‘The weather is cold, but the people are warm.’"

And her Southern Hoiho teammates have warmly welcomed the Millersburg native.

"I truly can't say enough about my teammates here,” she said. “The culture of the team that I was welcomed with open arms into is very resembling of my experience at Ashland. They are amazing people, strong women and the most supportive teammates. My experience here is completely credited to them both on the court and off.

“I couldn't ask for a better group to spend my summer with."

Despite playing professionally overseas, Snyder has been able to get back to Holmes County and keep in touch with her former Eagles teammates.

"I have spent two summers in Millersburg since moving overseas but, typically, I am gone most of the time during basketball season," she said. "I will always have a special bond with my lady Eagle teammates. I was just the maid of honor in Julie Worley’s (Sult) wedding before heading here to New Zealand but, unfortunately, I've missed nearly every other lady Eagle wedding, so I always have to watch in envy from afar."

The 6-foot-1 power forward is averaging 19.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.6 steals in 33 minutes per game for Southern Hoiho.

For Snyder, the best experience of playing professionally has been the experience itself.

"I have been able to travel all over Europe and Oceania,” she said. “I've made friends all over the world. I've experienced cultures I would have never seen, and I have created a career playing the sport I love.

“I really could not ask for anything more in this phase of my life besides if I would get to see my family and friends back home more often."

In New Zealand, there's also some downtime, so she's been able to tour the country some and enjoy the finer things the country has to offer.

"Halloumi exists all over the world but is typically made from sheep’s milk, which is very popular in New Zealand, so it is served at a lot of restaurants, and I've come to grow very fond of it here," she said. "One food the Kiwis also love is the cheese roll, which is exactly what it sounds like, cheese rolled into a piece of bread. I'm not a coffee connoisseur, but the coffee here is amazing."

And her teammates have given her a new nickname.

"My teammates here call me Luna," she said. "Laina was autocorrected once, and it stuck."

At Ashland University, Snyder helped lead Ashland to an NCAA Division II national championship during the 2016-17 season as a junior. AU finished runner-up the following season, losing 66-52 to Central Missouri. The loss ended the Eagles’ 73-game winning streak as they closed the season with a 36-1 season.

She closed her collegiate career with several program records, including most career points (2,295), most career field goals made (972), most field goals made in a season (311 in 2017-18), most career rebounds (1,207) and most career steals (372).

Snyder alternated between the four and five positions while at AU, impacting the game by scoring down low, attacking or feeding the post from outside and causing havoc as the front person of their full-court trapping press.

The biggest adjustment to playing professionally is having to pay attention to your stats, according to Snyder.

"At Ashland, all I cared about was team success and winning championships for AU,” she said. “When you turn pro, your statistics are part of what get you your next job. So, in order to keep playing, I not only have to have a full focus on helping the team be successful, but I also have to produce as well.

"Other than that, I think I am a very adaptable person, so learning new cultures has been more of an adventure rather than an adjustment."

Snyder continues to grow not only as a professional basketball player but also in her daily walk through life.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland U grad Laina Snyder is playing basketball overseas