Lehigh’s Lily Fandre: Inspired by father, family

On evenings in Andover, Minnesota, a young, tall and athletic Lily Fandre sits on the gymnasium bleachers working on coloring books as her father practices with his league basketball team. 

She patiently waits for breaks and buzzers between drills and scrimmages. In those moments, she walks onto the court, dribbles a bit, knocks down some shots and returns to coloring. 

These routine snippets of basketball practice introduced Lily Fandre to the game. As she grew older, she began to trade colored pencils for points and percentages in the paint.

Inspired, but never pressured, to pick up a ball by her parents, Clay and Wendy Fandre, who met at the University of Minnesota Duluth playing Division II basketball, Lily Fandre knew she wanted to elevate her game to the highest level.

“It’s always been kind of something I loved and enjoyed doing,” Lily Fandre said. “It’s always been a choice that I made.”

Now, as a senior and co-captain for the Lehigh women’s basketball team, Lily Fandre has carried on her family legacy through personal, academic and Division I dreams, leading the Mountain Hawks with an average of 15.3 points per game during the 2025-26 season.

And family means everything to her.

When Lily Fandre was 4-years-old, her mother passed away unexpectedly. The tragic loss naturally caused significant stress and anxiety, but Clay Fandre said it also led to strength.

“If you can get through the really tough times, then the next time it’s not so difficult,” he said.

So, through those dark and difficult moments, Clay Fandre said Lily Fandre developed social and emotional skills to deal with adversity and challenges, which also materialized on the basketball court.

In Stabler Arena, he shakes and sweats on the sidelines while she stands calm and collected, sinking shots late in the game, with a 79.5% free-throw percentage.

“She knocks down shots, and I think that comes from having been through really tough times and realizing that you can get through it,” Clay Fandre said. 

He’s her biggest supporter, made apparent by his camper van equipped with everything he needs to work his IT job remotely, and which allows him to drive to every game to support the team’s travel, coast to coast.

He’s so dedicated that his makeshift parking in places at Stabler Arena have led campus police to inform him he can’t park there anymore. 

This father-daughter connection is strong, and apart from basketball, they also share interests in music, like Green Day, which Lily Fandre uses to hype up for games. 

The father-daughter duo love “tinkering” and technology. And, largely influenced by her father, Lily Fandre is pursuing a computer science and engineering degree.

“Growing up around him, he would always buy me little robotic kits to build and stuff like that,” Lily Fandre said. “So I think I’ve kind of always had a passion for engineering.”

Lily Fandre recently completed her senior capstone project, which included creating a mobile app for a startup company that helps people traveling with pets find the best seats on airplanes.

Her dad, meanwhile, is always there and eager to help her with homework, coding and engineering problems. She said she will probably work in the engineering field in the future, but for now, Lily Fandre wants to continue playing basketball.

Lily Fandre was drawn to Lehigh both for its engineering program and the women’s basketball team, which she has helped define in the past few years through leadership, confidence and determination.

Gracyn Lovette, a junior forward and co-captain, said Lily Fandre leads with joy and a strong work ethic.

“She’s shown me how you can just be yourself on and off the court, which I think is something that I’ve really grown into,” Lovette said.

She also said Lily Fandre’s confidence has helped instill a similar confidence in herself.

“It’s just how I interact with people (and) express myself,” Lily Fandre said. She believes having teamwork and communication skills will contribute positively to her career,

Coach Addie Micir said Lily Fandre is someone everyone likes to be around and said she’ll be great at anything she does. 

This season, Micir loved how Lily Fandre stepped outside of herself and used her voice as a team captain.

“Since Day 1, people have looked to her on the basketball court, too,” Micir said. “She started early in her first year and has been such an important part of what we’re doing and what we’re building.”

Fandre’s co-captaincy this season led Lehigh’s women’s basketball team to the Patriot League finals and a berth in the first round Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

And her legacy and leadership punched her a ticket to Australia this summer, where she’ll be continuing her career with the NBL1 women’s league, this time solo.

“The next chapter in her playing career will be hers alone,” Clay Fandre said.