It all started with a hug.

It wasn’t the still-shiny Convocation Center, the campus or even the coaches that pushed Des Moines, Iowa native Charmaine Bell to choose NIU last spring.

It was a hug from assistant coach Molly Murray after a visit to campus. That simple embrace became the best recruiting tool the NIU women’s basketball team ever had.

“After meeting with coaches there is usually a handshake, so I stuck my hand out and she pulled me in for a hug,” Bell said. “It made a huge difference.”

The personal aspect of that moment made all the difference for the incoming freshman, who grew up as the daughter of a pastor.

“After talking with [Coach Murray] she told me ‘Dad, she hugged me. I’m going to go to this school,'” Charmaine’s father, Ben Bell, said.

However, just as her father was first to know Bell had chosen to be a Huskie, he was also first to know she will be leaving the team.

The former high school state champion and top-recruit for the Huskies has decided to leave NIU to pursue other options. Bell’s Huskie career came to an end after six games, four of which she started in.

Despite reports that she left because of homesickness, Bell says it was more than that, and being homesick was not a deciding factor in her choice to leave. A feeling that there was just something off about her role on the basketball team is what truly drove her decision, she said.

“They always say there’s a place for everyone, and I just didn’t feel like this was the place for me,” she said. “I felt like I didn’t fit in here and I just thought I needed a fresh new start somewhere.”

The decision was not easy, she said. Through countless practices and workouts, Bell knew in the back of her mind that something had to change. Games came and went, but her thoughts remained consistent.

“I really tried to fight my way through it,” Bell said.

Rather than seeking advice, Bell took the weight of her problems on her own shoulders. Upon making her decision, the first person she went to was the one who has been there all along – her father.

He likely earned that role somewhere along I-80 on one of his many four-hour trips from Des Moines to DeKalb to watch his daughter play. He always found the eight-hour round trips worthwhile, even if his daughter played just a handful of minutes.

But he didn’t see what was coming.

“I was surprised,” he said. “I told her it’s a major decision and, as her father, I raised her to be my peer, so it was hers to make. I just wanted to make sure she understood what she was doing and the implications.”

He wasn’t the only one surprised. Bell’s teammates, some of whom she lived with, also did not see what was coming. Like most good teammates would, they tried to talk her out of leaving.

“At first I got a lot of calls from teammates, they were explaining to me that they’ve been through it before and trying to hint to me that they got through it,” Bell said.

There was no getting through it for Bell, however. Those thoughts were long gone after struggling with the decision for so long, she said.

“I had been feeling that way for awhile,” Bell said. “I thought it was a phase, but after months of not getting over it, I thought ‘let me rethink this thing, maybe it’s not a phase.'”

The next phase for Bell will likely bring her closer to home, as she has expressed interest in numerous Iowa schools.

While the only time NIU will see her back on the court will be as an opponent, Bell still remembers what once drew her to DeKalb – a hug, which is not something she plans to forget.

“I’ve developed a lot of deep friendships here,” she said. “Even though I’m quitting the team, friendships are something you aren’t supposed to let die.”