TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

You were welcomed to college basketball by a pretty formidable foe in defending national champion Connecticut. What was it like to play against a team like that in your first game at UB?
It was a great experience because obviously, they were national champions. It’s fun to play against any competition, especially that kind.

On January 2, you had 12 points as UB beat East Carolina, 50-48, snapping a seven-game losing skid. How important was the win coming right before you started your Mid-American Conference schedule?
It was very important because I think it gave us a bright spot in our season. It’s been kind of up and down. I think it gave us a lot of confidence to go into the Bowling Green game and believe in ourselves a little bit more.

You are one of two freshmen and three underclassmen in the starting lineup with freshman Heather Turner and sophomore Belinda Gibb. How are you adjusting to being a part of such a young team?
I think I’m adjusting okay because my sister really helped me coming into all this. The adjustment with such a young team is you just have to be really patient with a lot of things and that’s just one of the things I had to learn, too. Everybody is just as good as everybody else. It’s not like high school where a team can just blow out a team. Everybody is here for the same thing and I think it took us young kids to understand that a little bit more than if we had just come in and not known anything about it.

Your sister, Allison, a shooting guard on the team, has started 70 games in a row. What else does she bring to the table as a captain and as a player?
My sister is a hard worker. She doesn’t ever show weakness. In practice today, she led us through every single drill that we did and today was a tough practice. She got us through it because she believes in everybody on the team. She gives confidence to the team and her leadership skills off the court are just as good as they are on the court, too.

The Bulls have players from six different countries on the roster. How have you been able to gel with your teammates so far?
That’s been really fun. It’s been quite an experience because it’s just neat to see other cultures and how other people really are. It’s been an awesome experience. I’m really glad I’m getting the chance to play with them.

In high school, you were a three-sport star, playing volleyball, basketball and softball. How difficult was it to manage your time between the three sports and your schoolwork at Kenton Ridge High School?
It wasn’t really that hard for me because I would just go to practice, and with volleyball and softball, I wouldn’t really put in as many extra hours as I did with basketball. I would just go in, practice, go home and get my work done. It really wasn’t that big of a deal.

You’ve had your eye on the UB program for the last three years for a number of reasons, obviously your sister Allison was part of that. What really made you choose UB over some of the other Division I programs that recruited you?
Definitely the academics because I want to be a physical therapist and out of the schools that were recruiting me, UB had the best offer - being able to get your doctorate degree in six years and, hopefully, getting five years paid for.

You played on a couple of Amateur Athletic Union national title teams. What difference did the AAU make in making you a better player?
I learned a lot in AAU because everybody is just as good as you are in the AAU. In high school, if you’re a true basketball player, you just have a lot of athletes on your high school team so the true basketball players are going to play more than your athletes. On your AAU teams, everyone was just as good as you so you had to work harder to get a starting spot. I learned a lot by being a bench player, coming off the bench and being able to contribute to the team because I didn’t start a lot of my AAU games. I think my game expanded a lot more because I learned how to be a bench player.

All the winter sports teams have to make a couple pretty large sacrifices during the season, having a shortened Thanksgiving and a four-day Winter Break. Is it tough not going home for the holidays?
I miss my family tons. That was a big adjustment for me because my family, we’re really close and all the holidays are always huge. Everybody’s always together, so that was my biggest adjustment. Especially not going home for Thanksgiving was really weird for me and then Christmas was short. I wish it could have been longer, but that was the biggest adjustment.

What has been your favorite moment as a UB athlete?
Being able to play with my sister and getting that experience. Sometimes I think that you can take it for granted. Sometimes I have to stop and think, ‘I’m here, playing with my sister. Not a lot of girls get that opportunity, especially not in college.’ That’s been the best experience so far.

“The 10 Questions With…” feature is compiled by Joe Guistina.