Some people wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and wipe the sleep from their eyes, letting out one final, expansive yawn before taking the first few steps toward a new day.

Nikki Anthony looked in the mirror Tuesday morning and smiled from ear-to-ear — contemplating a new chapter in her life.

“I just stood there and thought, ‘What did I do to be so lucky?’ ” Anthony said. “I’ve been saying since I was 5-years-old I was going to play pro basketball, and now it’s happening.”

Anthony, who played for Anderson University last season after graduating from Florida State, is one of the newest members of UBBC APOsport Herzogenburg, a team in the Austrian Women Basketball League’s top division (Division 1). The 23-year-old from Pickens also fielded offers from clubs in Holland and Germany before opting to make her play-for-pay debut in Austria.

“(Herzogenburg) paid more than the rest and they have a really good benefits package,” Anthony said. “The contract covers my medical bills and has accident insurance, and it even pays my utilities and taxes. I signed the contract last week and it officially goes into effect Sept. 15 and runs for 10 months.”

Anthony’s lone season with the Lady Trojans was a memorable one. The 6-2 center recorded 18 double-doubles during 2007-08, led the team in scoring and rebounding and was named Conference Carolinas Player of the Year. Her season highs were 25 points against Pfeiffer on Jan. 24 and 17 rebounds against Barton on Jan. 26.

Anthony also received Division II Honorable Mention All-American honors.

While in Tallahassee she made the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll three times while also playing volleyball for the ’Noles.

“In 19 years of coaching she was one of the hardest workers I ever had,” said former Anderson women’s basketball coach Jeff Dow, who now guides the Indiana-Pennsylvania Crimson Hawks program. “Obviously I’m happy for Nikki getting this opportunity. She certainly deserves it and she made a huge impact at Anderson not just in basketball but with the university as a whole.”

By the time she got to Anderson Anthony already had a bachelor’s degree from FSU, and worked on her Master’s degree in education at AU. Having taken care of her classroom duties, she said last season she wanted to continue her basketball career — and do it overseas.

“My whole life I’ve wanted to travel,” Anthony said. “And I wanted to play pro basketball and long before there was the WNBA there were European teams for women and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see other places and just experience what other cultures are like.

“Some people dream of traveling but don’t get an opportunity to do it, so I’m so fortunate that I can.”

Anthony said her desire to compete abroad was enhanced when, while playing for the Seminoles, Florida State participated in a 12-day tour of Europe.

“I love my country, but I think in order to appreciate it even more it’s important to see what it’s like in other countries,” she said. “And from a basketball standpoint Europe has a lot of quality leagues and teams, so it’s a great opportunity.”

Dow said Anthony was asked to take on an entirely different role at Anderson than the one she was asked to perform at Florida State, and she proved to be a quick study.

“It was completely different for her at Anderson than it was at FSU,” he said. “Here she was asked to be a scorer, which she didn’t have to worry about there. But that was her role and she was terrific. More than that, she made other players better.

“She is unselfish almost to a fault. But her passing ability opened up our 3-point shooting and it seemed like we were always getting good looks at the basket.”

Anthony will spend the rest of the month preparing for the long trip, and hopes her parents can see her play over the winter.

“My mom is going to make it for Thanksgiving, so that’ll be great,” Anthony said. “It’ll be tougher on my dad. He suffered some back injuries playing pro football, and it might be a little much for him to take a 13-hour flight. But I know they’ll be rooting for me and I have so many friends who are wishing me well.

“Like I said before, what did I do to be so lucky?”