There are occasions, when she sees Sara Scalia getting the ball in rhythm, rising up behind the three-point arc and letting a shot go together with that good spin, that Gadiva Hubbard is aware of she will flip and begin operating in direction of the defensive finish.
“You simply know it may fall,” Hubbard mentioned.
Hubbard is aware of good capturing.
Her profession goes again to 2016, which suggests she performed two seasons with Carlie Wagner, one of many sweetest three-point shooters in Gophers historical past, at present third in profession program scoring.
Requested to match the 2 — their types, their skill to hit from behind the arc — Hubbard demurred. However she does know this: Given how laborious Scalia, the Stillwater native, works, the hours she places in, on her personal, within the fitness center, the summers targeted on enchancment, Hubbard sees a participant who might find yourself being the most effective gamers in program historical past.
“When Sara first bought right here, we knew she was a terrific shooter,” Hubbard mentioned. “We noticed her when she was in highschool. However she’s grown. She has expanded her recreation.”
The Gophers play Northwestern on Thursday in a second-round Huge Ten match recreation. They enter it having received two video games in a row. Scalia? She was named second-team All-Huge Ten by each the coaches and the media this week. She enters the sport having scored in double figures in 20 consecutive video games, averaging 20.5 factors and capturing practically 45% on three-pointers in that point.
She additionally enters the sport with a goal on her again. When level guard Jasmine Powell left this system and entered the NCAA’s switch portal earlier this season, Scalia went from off-guard to on the ball. With Powell and her scoring gone, Scalia turned each opponent’s prime precedence. She has been double-teamed and trapped. Groups have run box-and-ones on her, following her everywhere in the court docket, even nicely past the three-point line, figuring out her vary.
“She’s needed to change positions,” Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen mentioned. “She’s needed to actually sort of, I will not say reinvent herself, however she’s had to determine completely different spots on the ground to be efficient.”
Climbing the charts
As her third season winds down, Scalia mentioned she hasn’t thought a lot about issues like legacy or precisely what her mark on this system will likely be.
“Probably not,” she mentioned. “Not a lot. Each now and again a coach will say one thing about it.”
There’s an excessive amount of happening proper now for Scalia, a whole bunch of photographs to be taken earlier than or after follow, the following recreation to arrange for, a summer time of labor forward.
This is a rundown:
Scalia at present has 1,099 factors, good for twenty first on the Gophers all-time checklist, having simply handed Gophers assistant coach Kelly Curry (nee Roysland, 1,074). If she stays wholesome and performs two extra seasons at in regards to the stage she’s taking part in at now, there’s an opportunity Scalia might get near or go Wagner, who scored 2,215 factors in 4 seasons.
With 204 three-pointers made, Scalia is already seventh on the Gophers all-time checklist, 150 wanting Rachel Banham’s program-best 354. On the fee she’s making threes this season — 3.4 a recreation, second-best within the Huge Ten — that report might be hers, too.
“That will be fairly loopy,” Scalia mentioned. “Numerous nice gamers have come by means of this program. I’ve had somewhat success this 12 months, I suppose. I’ve labored laborious.”
That, actually, needs to be Scalia’s legacy. She hasn’t simply labored on her shot. She has put in time attempting to be higher off the dribble when run off the three-point line, at ending inside. There’s enchancment there, with room for extra; this season her three-point capturing share (42.6) is healthier than her total capturing (40.1).
However this season has sort of been a crash course in adapting as defenses have zeroed in on Scalia. “You must be mentally robust,” Whalen mentioned. “All that further weight, the burden. She’s accomplished job of dealing with that.”
Season of progress
Scalia’s assists practically doubled down the stretch, in comparison with her season-long numbers. She has gone again to the step-back three — a staple of her highschool days at Stillwater — to seek out house. When Powell was at her finest, she might draw defenders and dish to Scalia. Now Scalia is usually initiating the offense.
“I’ve grown as a participant since Jas left,” Scalia mentioned. “I needed to work extra as a distributor. It is a sacrifice.”
There will likely be loads to work on this summer time. With 5 seniors leaving this system, Scalia must change into extra of a vocal chief, not a pure energy. “I’ve come a great distance since freshman 12 months,” she mentioned. “Freshman 12 months I did not say a phrase.”
Scalia will spend her summer time attempting to get stronger, higher at ending on the rim. And, after all, engaged on her shot.
However she is keen to play with the Tenth-ranked recruiting class nationally that Whalen and her workers have coming in, a four-Minnesotan class of Mara Braun (Wayzata), Amaya Battle (Hopkins), Nia Holloway (Eden Prairie) and Mallory Heyer (Chaska). Braun and Battle are guards who, in the event that they reside as much as expectations, ought to be capable of create lots of house for Scalia.
Scalia is aware of all of them. As a result of their households know one another, she in all probability is aware of Braun the perfect.
“It is thrilling,” Scalia mentioned. “I am excited. I believe all of them love the sport, all of them wish to get higher. And so they’re all from Minnesota. I really like watching ’em play, and I am excited to play with them.”