By Rich WInter

605 Sports

YANKTON —- After a breakout first season at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska, former Mahpiya Luta basketball standout Stevi Fallis hit an emotional wall. 

Hundreds of miles from home, Fallis’ world began unraveling when her grandmother Cleo Gates' health began failing. 

“At the beginning of the 2022 school year I started to struggle with my mental health,” Fallis said. “That was when my grandma first got sick and from there things went downhill.

When Fallis was very young her father passed away and her very young mother Sandra Cuny faced the challenge of raising two small children as a single parent. Fallis said her mother broke down in front of her mom, Cleo Gates saying “I don’t know what I’m going to do and I don’t know how I’m going to raise two girls alone.”

“My grandmother told my mom that she would be there to help,” Fallis said. “My grandma helped raise me and we lived with her up until the sixth grade when I moved to Pine Ridge. She came back to live with us the last three years after my aunt died during my senior year of high school.” 

During those final years, Fallis helped as much as she could with the care of her grandmother both feeding and bathing her. 

“I would do anything for her because she helped raise me,” Fallis said. “She was my best friend and it was hard to lose her the way I did because it came out of nowhere. Everyone has their own time and I knew it was going to hit me really hard but I didn’t know it was going to be that hard for me.” 

After her grandmother died, Fallis went back to school and resumed her basketball career. Fallis said she was doing as well as could be expected until the grief hit. With a full plate of school and the responsibility of being the starting point guard, Fallis made the decision that her mental health was more important than school and basketball. 

“Being a point guard and a leader, I didn’t think it was fair to my teammates and coaches to not be there mentally,” Fallis said. “I was really struggling with anxiety and depression so I moved home and started to get help medically and started to see a therapist.”

Just like her basketball career, Fallis went all-in on her wellness journey. She visited with her therapist who assured Fallis that it was OK to take a break and step away. 

During her time away from the game, Mount Marty University women’s basketball coach Allan Bertram kept regular tabs on Fallis. A family friend, Bertram has known Fallis from an early age.

“When she was struggling we talked about it quite a bit,” Bertram said. “Even when she was home I reminded her that I was here and that it’s OK not to be OK.” 

Back in Pine Ridge, Fallis continued to attend school while she worked on discovering who she really was as a person. 

“When everyone thinks of Stevi Fallis they think of this basketball star and when she stepped away from the game she lost a sense of who she was in relation to how people think about her,” Bertram said. “I told her, ‘Stevi, you are special because of who you are and not just the game of basketball. The game is a blessing that you’ve worked really hard to get good at but what makes you special is who you really are as a person.’ ” 

During her time away, Fallis said she discovered a lot about herself. She said she both studied and learned about the brain and the mentality you need to have in life to succeed when things get hard. 

“I had to realize that I was a person before a basketball player,” Fallis said. “Basketball doesn’t dictate who I am as a person. I found out a lot and gave me more patience and gave me a clearer perspective in both life and in basketball.”

Having worked through her issues, Fallis found herself on the other end of a phone call with coach Bertram offering her a chance to continue her academic and athletic career at Mount Marty University. 

“From the time she went to Northeast it was always on my radar to get her to Mount Marty,” Bertram said. “I’ve known Stevi since she was a little girl and it’s been awesome to see her grow from the player she was in elementary school to the player she is now.” 

Fallis arrived in Yankton to join a veteran team that started two freshman guards last season. Bertram said he’s noticed some big-time changes including jumping right in the middle of pre-season competition to earning a starting guard position for the Lancers. 

“The one thing I’ve noticed is a rejuvenated spirit,” Bertram said. “When she is around other people it’s like she’s completely enlightened and I can see the joy in her all the time.”

Through three games, the 5-foot-5 junior guard is averaging 10 points per game, three assists per game and two rebounds per game for the Lancers (3-0).