Transylvania University is probably not the school to attend if you’re hoping to avoid hearing Dracula jokes. But for Kayla Dobson, an Eldorado graduate, the private school in Lexington, Ky, was a perfect fit.

“I’ve heard a lot (of jokes),” Dobson said. “You kind of get used to it, you learn to laugh with it. We just play along with it.”

Dobson, who played basketball and volleyball at Eldorado, is a sophomore center for the Transylvania Pioneers but it was the lure of the library, not the hardwood that led her to the Division III program.

“I really just came out here for the academic part of the school,” Dobson said. “Playing basketball is nice too but that was really the most appealing part.”

Dobson, who is majoring in biology with a psychology minor, had opportunities to stay closer to home and play basketball but chose to try something new.

Dobson considered attending the University of New Mexico or playing basketball at New Mexico Highlands, but eventually decided to leave the desert for the Bluegrass State.

“It’s very different from Albuquerque. The weather is a lot more humid and it rains a lot.” Dobson said. “Other than that, it wasn’t too hard to get used to but it’s hard being away from family. A lot of people out here are really close to home. When everyone else is going home on the weekends, you have to get used to staying on campus. After a while you get to like being alone and having time to do whatever you want.”

Leaving Albuquerque was a tough decision for Dobson, who is one of just three players on the team who are not from Kentucky, but it may have been just as tough on her family.

“I think they had mixed feelings about it,” Dobson said. “I have a twin sister who is at Oklahoma State, so for both of us to leave my parents at the same time was hard for them. But they were also excited that we got to go out and do our own thing.”

They definitely keep in touch, my mom and grandma send packages all the time and make phone calls. They take care of us.”

Dobson’s thing is studying so she can eventually be a pediatrician, but she still finds time to contribute for the Pioneers on the basketball court.

As a freshman last year, the 5-foot-11 center played in 27 games and averaged 3.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game as the Pioneers went 14-13 and finished fourth in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

But the start of her sophomore year was delayed because of an injury and left Dobson eager to get back on the court. Dobson missed the first two weeks of her sophomore season after she suffered a concussion during a scrimmage.

“Being out for two weeks is a long time,” Dobson said. “I’ve never been out that long.”

Dobson played her first game of the season Tuesday and scored two points in eight minutes in a Pioneers win.

Saturday, Dobson scored four points and grabbed five rebounds in 12 minutes as Transylvania won again.

While the numbers aren’t overly impressive, Dobson knows she’s at Transylvania to do more than score points.

“I was looking around at a lot of colleges,” Dobson said. “Some locally, some junior colleges but the reason I chose Transylvania was because of academics. College is partly about playing basketball but mostly it’s about going to school.”
— This article appeared on page D2 of the Albuquerque Journal