Ewing, NJ...As a member of The College of New Jersey's women's basketball team, Hillary Klimowicz (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) was a dominant presence for the Lions and helped the program to its best season in school history. Last season she made the transition to assistant coach getting a look at the game from another perspective teaching the young post players the tricks of the trade in the paint.

Earlier this summer, Klimowicz accepted another challenge as she signed a one-year professional contract to play with the SDENT Nyon, which is a member of the First Division in the Switzerland League. Klimowicz, a 6-3 center, will join SDENT Nyon for the 2010-11 season with the team coming off of a very successful season as they lost in the league finals. She plans on heading to Europe in mid-August to begin training for the upcoming season.

"I'm incredibly excited to start a new journey with basketball as my guide,” Klimowicz said. “I know that the people I've met and the relationships I've formed while playing and coaching at TCNJ will enhance my experience in Europe. I'm incredibly grateful to have this opportunity

and for all the support I have already received and will continue to receive."

If Klimowicz's success at TCNJ is an indication of how she adjusts to the professional level, TCNJ head coach Dawn Henderson feels that she will have no problem excelling at the next level.

“I'm extremely proud of Hillary. She has been a success at every level of basketball and I have no doubt she will be successful as she pursues her professional basketball career,” Henderson explained. “She is an outstanding young woman and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to be her coach. We will miss her as she moves abroad to continue her basketball career.”

Klimowicz's collegiate playing career began at NCAA Division I St. Joseph's University in 2005-06 where she was the 2005-06 Atlantic 10 and Big Five Rookie of the Year. She then made the decision to transfer to Division III TCNJ where she quickly made an impression on the Lion program.

Her statement season came during her senior season in 2008-09 when she was named the 2009 Women's Basketball Coaches' Association Player of the Year. She was not only the first Lion to garner this award, but the first player from the New Jersey Athletic Conference to do so. Klimowicz was also selected to the 2009 State Farm Coaches' All-America Basketball First Team. She was also a finalist for the 2009 Jostens Trophy, as the top player in Division III. Additionally, she was selected as the 2009 ECAC Metro Player of the Year and an ECAC Metro First-Team honoree.

Klimowicz was a two-time NJAC Player of the Year and a three-time All-NJAC First Team honoree.

She finished her career with her name throughout the program's record book as she recorded a single-season record for points in a season with 587 and ranks second in program history with 1,413 points and 832 rebounds. She is also the program's all-time leader in blocked shots with 314 and holds season marks for rebounds (320), blocks (119), field goals made (232), and field-goal percentage (67.1%).

Klimowicz excelled in the classroom as well as she was named CoSIDA's ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II College Division Second Team in 2009. She earned her degree in psychology with minors in sociology and women and gender studies and was a three-time TCNJ Scholar-Athlete.

As a team during the 2008-09 campaign, TCNJ set a school record for most wins in a season (28) and games played (33), while making the program's first appearance in the Final Four. The team's third-place finish in the national tournament was also the highest in school history. The Lions finished the season with a record of 28-5 and won the 2009 New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship.

Klimowicz earned 2008 WBCA State Farm Coaches' All-America Team Honorable Mention and was the 2008 NJAC Player of the Year after joining the Lions from NCAA Division I St. Joseph's University, While at St. Joe's she was selected the 2005-06 Atlantic 10 and Big Five Rookie of the Year.