TicketsApril 8, 2009
By MARK SCHMETZER
Stephanie Stevens can see the big picture. That's how she copes with what are, relatively speaking, the little things.
The college basketball career of the University of Cincinnati junior hasn't quite risen to the level of the dreams she brought with her when she first set foot on the Clifton campus before the 2006-07 season. She was the reigning Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Division I Player of the Year. She'd been named Most Valuable Player of both the Ohio-Kentucky and Ohio-West Virginia all-star games. She'd been ranked by All-Star Girls Report as the nation's 33rd-best point guard in her class. She'd been the best player at one of the state's most prestigious high school girls basketball programs.
The first three years of the point guard's college experience haven't been nearly as accomplished. She started a total of just four games in three seasons, and she had to adjust to a change in the coaching staff after the coach who recruited her retired. She missed the first eight games of this season with mononucleosis and didn't play in three other games. She has averaged fewer than three points per game over her career and her team has struggled, especially in BIG EAST competition.
To Stevens, learning how to cope with life's setbacks is all a part of her education. The way she sees it, she's playing college basketball on scholarship at a school she loves while getting an education in a vocation about which she's passionate. The upside definitely outweighs the downside.
"I love Cincinnati," she said. "I love everything about it -- the school, the academics, the athletics. It's been unfortunate for me this year. I had been sick. Besides the mononucleosis, I was in the hospital with an infection in my throat. It was terrible. It was hard not playing, and it was very difficult not being able to see my team play. I'm like any other athlete. I like competing and playing. It was just good to finally get back on floor and help the team out.
"This year has been a bummer. Nobody likes losing, but it has been a great experience trying to beat the best teams in the country.
"It's always been somewhat difficult, but you just have to do your best. I've always been a team player, and I want to do what's best for the team. I wasn't going to give up. I just want to be the best I can be for the team, and I knew just wanted to get better. This year has been crazy. I got sick, and I couldn't control that. It's been a long road for me this year, because it's taken so long to get back to where I feel like myself again. The end of the season was when I was feeling my best, but you have to keep your head up."
Stevens' teammates have seen her struggles and respect her approach, fourth-year junior guard-forward Shelly Bellman said.
"The thing about Stephanie is she's so mature," said Bellman, who has her own background of Buckeye basketball honors. "She knows her role on the team, and she knows how she helps us the most. Maybe she's not getting the playing time she imagined she would get, and I'm sure she wants more, but she's taking what she gets and she's making the most of it. Being an awesome practice player, doing her role and taking advantage of the playing time she gets is what she does. She works hard to get better, and she handles everything well."
The 5-foot-7 Stevens averaged 12.7 points per game as a junior and 16.3 as a senior at Pickerington Central High School, just outside of Columbus. She was simply upholding the family legacy. One cousin, Rachel Stevens, played for Pickerington before it was split into two schools and was an imposing powerhouse. Rachel's team won a mythical national championship in her senior season.
Another cousin, Jeff Stevens, played at Pickerington Central before continuing his career at the College of Wooster. Stephanie's youngest sister currently plays for the Pickerington Central. Youngsters in the Stevens family look at basketball like Kennedy kids look at politics.
"Besides basketball, I played soccer and softball while I was growing up," Stephanie said. "I loved softball. The only reason I didn't stick with that was I knew I wanted to play basketball in college and I wanted to be the best I could be.
"I grew up lucky. I was fortunate to have a great basketball program to play in."
Stevens is well-grounded in fundamentals such as free throw shooting, at which she thrives. She made 13-of-16 as a freshman, an .813 percentage, and 40-of-50 as a sophomore (.800), before sinking 13-of-15 this season for an .867 percentage. Bellman, a Division II all-state player at Ottawa-Glandorf High School, can see Stevens' rich basketball background on the court.
"Definitely," Bellman said. "I didn't see her play in high school, but from what I've heard, she was amazing. She has so much presence on the court, even with her size. Her skills, like her ball-handling, are amazing. Her presence and leadership on the court and her work ethic -- those things stand out. She's brought that to the next level.
"Sometimes, we're on the same team in practice, and it's great. You need to be vocal out there. You need to talk, and she's talking all the time. It's good to play with her."
Besides Cincinnati, Stevens also had official recruiting visits scheduled for the University of Kansas and Bowling Green, but she cancelled both after visiting the Clifton campus.
"As soon as I stepped on campus at UC, I fell in love with it," she said. "I knew it was the place I wanted to be. I met with the players and played in open gym, and I felt right at home. That was the best part for me. I just had that feeling. I told my parents I didn't want to make other official visits."
After playing in 19 games as a freshman, Stevens had to deal with the retirement of long-time UC coach Laurie Pirtle and the arrival of J. Kelley Hall as UC's head coach.
"I was always taught that college basketball is a business," she said. "You might have coaches and players who leave. You never know. I can't say it wasn't difficult. I enjoyed Laurie and her staff. They were great people, but you just go on. I think we all took our new coaches in with open arms. It was good for everybody."
Stevens made all four of her starts and played in 24 games as a sophomore, a season she finished with her best scoring effort with a career-high 17 points at Providence in the season finale.
This season, Stevens seemed to be celebrating getting back to action after putting her health problems behind her. In just her second game, she set season highs with eight points, five assists and 26 minutes in a 56-41 non-conference win at Wright State on Dec. 16.
Off the court, Stevens is majoring in deaf studies and sign language interpretation, which she expects she'll be able to apply to pursuing a master's degree in special education. That was her original major, an interest derived from having a brother and cousin with Down Syndrome, but she had to adjust her plan because of her commitments to basketball.
"They're awesome," she said. "I want to teach and help."
(This story was previously printed in the Bearcat Sports Digest.)