She is the all-time leading scorer and rebounder for the College of Charleston women's basketball program since the Cougars have competed in Division I.

With 1,456 points and 805 rebounds, Wilma Simpson was a really good player on some rather mediocre teams. But the Summerville native was good enough to parlay that experience into an extended vacation overseas and an opportunity to see the world.

"If I hadn't gotten a scholarship to play basketball, I probably wouldn't have been able to go to college," Simpson said this week as she looked back on her career. "So I understand that I'm lucky to have my college degree and to have done the things I have done."

One of those things includes almost four years of playing professional women's basketball in Europe.

When Simpson graduated in 2003 with a degree in communications, she was offered the chance to play in Luxembourg where she spent 2 1/2 years making good money, traveling and experiencing a world she had not known existed.

"Actually, the crowds over there were bigger for women's basketball than what we had at the College of Charleston," said Simpson. "We usually had about 700 people at our games and they were rattling coins in bottles and beating drums. It was a real experience."

Then she spent a season playing in Portugal and another in Germany before deciding that at the ripe old age of 25 that it was time to get a real job.

"That was fun," she said. "But after a while, you get homesick."

Vilma! Vilma!

At 5-11, Simpson was never the biggest player on the court, but she knew how to score points. In bunches.

When she played for Melissa Slone's Cougars teams, she averaged 15.2 points per game but found things were easier when she landed in Luxembourg.

"I would say the competition there is like Division II basketball here in the states," she said. "We could only have one foreign player on each team and that player was usually an American. And we were usually the best players."

Simpson, in fact, averaged 35 points a game there and scored a career-high 63 points in one game.

"It was great," she said. "The fans would chant my name - Vilma! Vilma!"

But the best part, she said, was the overall learning experience of being away from home and on your own.

"We only played 28 games in our season and only practiced three days a week," she said. "So there was plenty of free time to explore."

Which she did, seeing sights most young girls from Summerville High School never get to see. And, she even took classes to learn the local language, which she says is an interesting mix of French and German.

"I learned enough to order things in the deli and the bakery," she said with a laugh.

Looking ahead

While many of our male players venture across the Atlantic to take advantage of

European basketball leagues after college, most people are not aware that similar venues exist for women.

And Simpson said the money isn't bad either.

"I made about $3,000 a month," she said. "But they gave you a place to live and a car. All you had to pay for were snacks."

After her third stop along the European trail, however, this Lowcountry girl felt it was time to come home. Now, she has to figure out what to do with the rest of her life.

"I'm afraid my resume is all basketball at this point," said Simpson, who has only been back in town for three weeks. "But I would like to find something in sports communications or broadcasting. I'd love to be a basketball analyst someday."

Maybe someday she will.

After all, she's come a long way already.

BY KEN BURGER of The Charleston Post and Courier