NORMAL — Kristen Gillespie knows freshman McKenna Sims is very close to her family.
So the Illinois State women’s basketball coach wasn’t caught totally by surprise this week when Sims informed her she was transferring to NAIA Morningside College.
“She called me and it was an extremely emotional conversation,” Gillespie said Friday. “In light of the (coronavirus) situation, she was always homesick a little bit this year. She wanted to be close to her family, and the crisis we’re facing right now made it really clear.”
Sims is from South Sioux City, Neb. Morningside is located directly across the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa.