EVALUATION

2025 Freshman Focus 

Stella was a taller player who had a nice ability to create her own shot off the bounce. Her go-to shot during the event seemed to be the stop-and-pop jumper. She would make two or three strong dribbles and appeared to be heading directly for the basket, but would stop on a dime and fire the midrange pull-up with a smooth and consistent follow-through. She showed how to keep her dribble in traffic, so she didn’t get stuck and allow defenders to swarm her. She also showed that she is a capable and willing outside shooter. While it wasn’t a shot she sought often, when she did take the 3-ball, she showed she could hit a couple throughout the day. Her area of opportunity would be to work on and add a hesitation dribble to her skillset. With her ability to stop, if she could have the hesitation dribble, it would likely have defenders jumping and flying past her to give her multiple open looks at the basket or for her patented jumper. 

2029 Only Showcase MN 

Stella was a versatile player who showed herself to be effective both inside and outside the arc. She displayed a silky-smooth perimeter shot that allowed her to burn the defense from 3-point range. She even showed the body control to hit the step-back 3-pointer with ease. She also was more than comfortable putting the ball on the ground and using her strength to absorb contact and power up for strong finishes around the rim. Her hustle was highlighted by her rebounding as multiple times she crashed in quickly from outside the paint and tracked where the ball was going and would beat the opposing players to the ball and quickly laid it back up for second-chance points or secured the ball for her team. Her area of opportunity would be to work on adding pump fakes and head fakes into her skillset. With her ability to hit the 3, she likely will have defenders closing out hard to contest and if she can throw a head fake or pump fake, she likely will send the defender flying and give her the space to attack by putting the ball on the ground.