Dariauna “Stretch” Lewis doesn’t have much free time. Between playing professional basketball overseas and training for her career after basketball, the former Omaha North High standout keeps busy.

Still, Lewis rarely misses a chance to return to North and mentor the impressionable girls with big dreams — girls who remind Lewis of herself.

“Even when I don’t feel like getting up, don’t feel like coming to the gym, I realize I was in their place, and I want to come pour into them every chance I get, so I come there,” Lewis said.

She is in rare company, but not alone. Lewis and former Benson High star Quinesha “Q” Lockett have traveled a path set by trailblazing female athletes from Omaha who returned home to give back after soaring to athletic heights.

Lewis’ and Lockett’s efforts come at a time of surging popularity for women’s sports. The WNBA, which kicked off the 2026 season earlier this month, saw its highest-ever average television viewership last year.

The women, both from North Omaha, said it’s important to show the girls what is possible.

“Especially for girls that look like me who are trying to find their way to do something they never thought was possible, I let them know that it’s very possible, and you can have fun while doing it, even travel the world,” Lockett said. “You don’t have to stay in Omaha to give back to Omaha, you can always come back and do what you feel is right.”

Both are making a difference, their former coaches said. Lewis was a fixture for North this past season as the Vikings did what she and her teammates could not — reach the state tournament. They made it all the way to the final, losing to Lincoln North Star. 

“These girls are inspired by her,” said North head coach Michaela Dailey. “They love her.”

Lewis and Lockett command respect. After graduating from North in 2018, Lewis strung together an impressive college career, earning first-team All America honors at Alabama A&M before finishing at Syracuse. Her pro career has brought her to Puerto Rico, Sweden, France, Israel, China and most recently, Iran, where she heeded warnings to flee as tensions mounted between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic. 

Lockett graduated from Benson in 2019 and became one of the University of Toledo’s all-time leading scorers. After playing last year in Germany, she now laces it up with the Essex Rebels in England.

Both got tryouts with WNBA teams before heading overseas. For their journeys back home, they had a roadmap to follow. 

Maurtice Ivy emerged as one of the most decorated high school and college players to ever come out of the state by the time she graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1988. Afterward, she found few opportunities. The WNBA wouldn’t launch for another nine years. The European leagues were nonexistent. 

Ivy turned to coaching, first at Peru State and then the University of Nebraska at Omaha, before forming Ivy League Youth Sports Academy. 

“I recognized a long time ago that life is bigger than Maurtice Ivy, and I want to make sure I have impact,” Ivy said. “Young people have this energy that is contagious, and I love to be around good energy. I want to impart my knowledge and experience with them.”

Lewis and Lockett recall Ivy running drills with them when they were in high school. She also served as a mentor to Dailey, the North High coach, who valued having guidance from a Black woman in a role still predominantly filled by white men.

“Every year she still comes in, watches a couple practices, gives me some pointers, watches a few games, gives some feedback,” Dailey said.

While Ivy missed out on a chance to play professionally, former Omaha Bryan High star Reshea Bristol did not. She played overseas after a stellar career at the University of Arizona. When her pro career ended, she returned to coach at Bryan, a down-on-its-luck program decimated by transfers. They were never contenders, but they managed to break a record 91-game losing streak. Several players earned scholarships to play at the college level. 

Bristol, who now officiates games, credits Ivy’s mentorship.

“I kind of follow in her footsteps, taking the torch from her trying to give back to the girls coming up,” she said.

Lockett had her own role models at Benson High, specifically Simone Goods and Delayah Harris, former Benson stars who returned from college to show Lockett and her teammates the ropes. It’s part of the culture that coach Bob Massey has built at Benson, Lockett said.

Massey routinely matches his best players, including phenom Jaeli Franccini, against the older, more skilled Lockett in practices. Massey said his players often plead with him, asking why he’s matching them up against proven collegiate and professional players.

“Because I’m making you better. If you can play with her, you can play with anybody,” he responds.

Lockett said Massey would do the same thing when she played for him at Benson. “Having us play against older girls, and them not taking it easy on us at all, but letting us know they came from that same neighborhood, and played for the same coaches. I want today’s girls to have the same exact experience.”

At Omaha North, Lewis stayed connected to the program, even when she was nearly 7,000 miles away. When North was competing in the Metro Holiday Tournament early in the season, Lewis was still playing in Iran. 

Sierra Thomas, a key player on North, recalled how Lewis called the team the day before the tournament finals, trying to motivate the players. A day later, North won its first ever Metro Holiday title, defeating Omaha Westview 56-43.

“She’s a really good model for us,” Thomas said of Lewis. “She pushes me to my limits, past my limits. She just wants all of us to succeed and do good. It means a lot that she’s here.”

Lewis has always wanted to give back, said Dailey, the coach at North.

“Even when she went off to college, any type of breaks she had, the first thing she was hittin’ me up on the phone, ‘When’s practice?’ Every time she sets foot in Omaha, she makes it here to do something for my girls.”

That was no easy task this past season. Once back in the U.S. after leaving Iran, Lewis took two healthcare-related jobs in preparation for the respiratory therapist career she wants after she retires from basketball. At North games during the season, Dailey tasked Lewis with keeping the team together.

“I like her to sit right in the middle of the bench, so that way when people are having meltdowns and things are not going their way, she can give them that good one-on-one feedback,” Dailey said. “She knows how to settle them down and get them back focused.”

Down the road, Lewis likely could be a head coach one day, Dailey said. Last summer, she guided a team with her former AAU basketball organization, Nebraska Hoops Elite. By all accounts, she proved she belonged. She expects to coach again next summer. 

“She just has that natural leadership ability about her,” Dailey said.

For the time being, though, Lewis is content to help where she can. “It really makes me feel good inside that I'm able to inspire a few girls,” she said. “I know I have helped a few girls gain confidence in themselves and a few others grow to be better.”

Both Lewis and Lockett said they get as much as they put in — if not more. There’s nothing better, Lockett said, than seeing a player she once helped move onto the college ranks. 

“It’s a nice full-circle moment.”

This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press, an independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories in Nebraska that matter. Read the article at: https://flatwaterfreepress.org/legacy-of-omaha-athletes-who-come-back-to-give-back-lives-on/