Sept. 1, 2010

ST. LOUIS - Former Saint Louis women's basketball standout Amanda Kemezys has signed a contract to play professionally for VICI Kaunas in Kaunas, Lithuania. Kemezys, who is of Lithuanian descent, will be the third Billiken coached by Shimmy Gray-Miller to play professionally overseas, joining Tyler McIlwraith and Theresa Lisch.

"I am excited and blessed to have an opportunity to continue my basketball career overseas," Kemezys said. "I am anxious to get over there, meet my team, start playing games and get acclimated to the country and culture.

"Much of my success is owed to my family, friends and SLU family, and I am thankful to have everyone's support," Kemezys said. "I am grateful for all of my experiences at SLU and confident that they have prepared me to excel in this next adventure in life."

"No player I have coached deserves an opportunity like this more than Amanda," Gray-Miller said. "She worked hard to finish her collegiate career on a high note, and we are thrilled that she has been rewarded with this chance to play professional basketball. We know Amanda will represent the Billikens very well in Europe."

The 6-foot-4 Kemezys concluded her SLU career ranked third in rebounds (819), fourth in field-goal percentage (.504) and blocks (81), fifth in rebounding average (7.7 rpg), tied for sixth in free throws made (276), ninth in free-throw percentage (.734) and tied for 10th in points (1,244) on the Billikens' all-time lists.

Kemezys was named to the 2009-10 Atlantic 10 All-Conference second team after garnering a spot on the 2008-09 third team as a junior. She also collected Academic All-Conference plaudits, was chosen to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 7 second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America and was an honorable mention on the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete basketball team.

As a senior, Kemezys ranked among the top 10 in the A-10 in rebounding (third, 9.1 rpg), offensive rebounding (sixth, 2.9 orpg), field-goal percentage (sixth, .507) and scoring (ninth, 13.0 ppg). She was 41st in the nation in field-goal percentage and 53rd in rebounding. In the 2009-10 regular-season finale against Richmond, she broke Jamie Cavaness' school record for rebounds in a season and finished the campaign with 273 caroms.

Saint Louis Billikens Women's Basketball