OSHKOSH, Wis. (NBC 26) — Kimberly native and former UW-Green Bay basketball star Frankie Wurtz is thrilled to be back home for another summer with the Wisconsin Glo.
"It's so nice," Wurtz said. "It's just a special opportunity to play in Wisconsin again once you're so far away from home for so long."
Since graduating from Green Bay in 2020, Wurtz has played overseas in Luxembourg during the winter months.
In 2021 she joined the Glo, an Oshkosh-based Global Women's Basketball Association (GWBA) team, for their summer season.
Wurtz said her time playing for longtime head coach Kevin Borseth at UWGB helped prepare her for the international game.
"Green Bay taught me so much within basketball," Wurtz said. "I just became such a better player defensively and my knowledge (of the game) and I'm able to bring that overseas."
"I just miss it," she added of UWGB. "The culture is like no other and Coach Borseth is amazing. I'm thankful for everything they've done for me."
Wurtz left Kimberly as the school's all-time leading scorer (a record that has since been surpassed by fellow Phoenix Maddy Schreiber) and averaged a team-high 15.2 points in her final season at UWGB. However, she said playing professionally has helped her refine other areas of her game.
"I just want to win," she said.
"Whether that's shooting or getting stops defensively or rebounding or just bringing energy - whatever my role is, that's what I want to do," Wurtz added.
Winning rules all, but playing back home comes in as a close second.
"I just love the Glo because it's such a special opportunity not a lot of people have in their state," Wurtz said. "(I) get to come home and keep playing competitive basketball."
Wurtz's cousin, Taylor Wurtz, and former Phoenix teammate Laken James are also on the Glo's roster this season.
The team is gearing up for a busy weekend. The Glo welcome in the St. Louis Surge for two games at Oshkosh Arena - Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
