Alma’s Twin Towers
Darcie (top) and Erica (bottom) Philp
Sisters Darcie and Erica Philp opened the women’s basketball season last November with double-digit performances. On campus their friends and supporters refer to them as the “Twin Towers” — for better or worse.
The younger of the two, Erica, came to Alma first. As a freshman, she was on the volleyball team and then moved on to the hardwood for the Scots, learning the ropes of the college game from head coach Charlie Goffnett. Her sister, Darcie, was an hour away at Ferris State where she was playing on scholarship for the Bulldogs.
After a game in 2004, Erica hurried to her dorm room to listen online to the Internet broadcast of her sister’s game, but it was already over. She quickly checked the Ferris Web site for the box score, only to find that Darcie had not played. She called her sister and heard the frustration immediately.
“I must have said something to her in that conversation that she should just come and play at Alma,” recalls Erica.
Shortly thereafter, Darcie called her sister and told her she was working on transferring to Alma so the sisters could play together again, as they had at Ubly High School.
Last year Darcie joined the team for the second semester, and her younger sister could not have been happier, both for herself and for the team.
“She makes everyone around her better; she can see the floor,” says the younger sister.
They recall growing up and coming to Alma’s basketball camps where they met Coach Goffnett. Both sisters admit that was part of the reason they chose Alma was its familiarity and comfort and sense of family.
“I love knowing that she is out there with me,” says Darcie. “Coming to Alma has been a different kind of challenge, where academics come far before athletics.”
“I’m the type of person that just wants to see others happy,” says Erica. “And I know that coming to Alma has done that for Darcie.”
