A unique playbook: Lexi, Lisa Carlsen balance basketball, family for NIU women

DeKALB – Like any other college freshman, Lexi Carlsen sometimes needs to talk to a coach. Sometimes she needs a parent.

The NIU shooting guard is in a rare situation. Coach Lisa Carlsen also happens to be her mother.

With the regular season starting Monday, the Carlsens have been trying to adjust their new dynamic of player and coach.

“It’s been something that we knew was just going to be trial and error,” Lexi Carlsen said. “What worked, what didn’t work, walk into her office after practice and be like ‘Relax a little bit. Hey Mom, I need you as a mom.’ ... It’s something that’s gone more smooth than I would have thought and it’s great.”

Both said they’ve been looking forward to the situation for a long time. Lisa Carlsen is entering her 10th year at the helm of the NIU women’s program.

The coach said the transition has gone better than anticipated and has been a lot of fun so far.

“I don’t take it lightly how special this situation is,” Lisa Carlsen said. “And I think she’s handling it like a champ. I think sometimes I need to keep myself in check because I’m so proud of her. I think she’s going to have a great career here. So being able to keep that separate, the super-proud mom and the coach that has 15 on the roster trying to manage what that looks like to win ball games, that’s been a challenge for me. But I think it will get easier.”

Lisa Carlsen said her daughter has had a strong offseason. In an exhibition Oct. 27 against Benedictine University, Lexi Carlsen played 15 minutes, shot 1 of 6 from the floor and 1 for 4 from long range to finish with five points, two assists and two rebounds.

“She’s making it really hard not to earn her opportunity,” Lisa Carlsen said. “I love that her consistency as a freshman is different. She didn’t have to go through the same unknowns as most freshmen so she can really be focused on the basketball piece of it.”

Lexi Carlsen committed to NIU early in her high school career out of Sycamore to play for her mother. The Spartans have produced a lot of NCAA Division I talent in recent years. The Huskies will face three former Spartans this season. NIU heads to Iowa on Wednesday to face three-time Daily Chronicle girls basketball player of the year Kylie Feuerbach.

The Huskies also host St. Thomas and former Spartan Faith Feuerbach on Nov. 10. They’ll host Evyn Carrier and Western Michigan on Jan. 11, as well.

Watching all her teammates go through the recruiting process, Lexi Carlsen said after her junior year she wanted to see what doors were open to her. She said she got shot down pretty quickly.

“That was a rough time, knowing that coaches weren’t giving me the time of day, not because they didn’t think I was good enough but because they just assumed,” Lexi Carlsen said. “It was a challenge and had a lot of tears to go along with it. But looking back, I knew I wasn’t going to go anywhere else. So in the long run, it really didn’t matter.”

Lexi Carlsen spent most of her career on the ball, whether it was with Sycamore or playing AAU ball. Now she’s making the transition to shooting guard, behind redshirt senior Sidney McCrea.

She’s been around the program for years. She said she jokingly calls Chelby Koker - a sixth-year redshirt senior - Grandma. Coker missed all of last season due to an unspecified injury.

“I was 13 years old and in the seventh grade when she was a freshman,” Lexi Carlsen said. “I’ve just grown up watching her play, admiring the determination she has and what she’s gone through. It’s an experience I have to cherish because it’s only one year.”

Lisa Carlsen said it’s been a special experience being able to coach her daughter.

“It’s been something I’ve looked forward to for such a long time,” Lexi Carlsen said. “To know that right now standing in my shoes I am living my dream and doing something that I’ve dreamt about for so long. It’s something I don’t take for granted. I never go about my day going ‘Wow, I wish I was doing something else.’ There’s nothing I’d rather be doing and nobody I’d rather do it with than my mom.”