The Daniels File
No. 34
Senior
Forward
Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Career highlights:
A part of USF's first road win over a Top 25 opponent in 16 years, when the Dons upended BYU 71-64 in Provo on Feb. 16, 2012.
Senior highlights:
Posted a season-high ten points and six rebounds against Fordham on Nov. 21.
Blocked two shots against San Diego on Feb. 2.
Started the first eight contests of the season for the Dons.
Junior highlights:
Started every game for USF, averaging 3.4 points and 4.5 rebounds a game.
Pulled down 10 rebounds at UC Davis on Nov. 22, 2011.
Scooped up three steals at Colorado Nov. 30, 2011, a season-high.
Sophomore highlights:
Picked up a career-high seven offensive rebounds at Sacramento State and sunk her first collegiate 3-pointer.
Contributed nine points and eight rebounds in 66-46 win over Pepperdine on Jan. 29, 2011.
Averaged 2.3 points and 3.9 rebounds a night for the Dons.
Freshman highlights:
Scored her first collegiate points at Texas Tech on Nov. 27, 2009.
Earned her first career start at Portland on Jan 28, 2010.
Averaged 2.1 points and 2.7 rebounds while playing in 26 games during her freshman campaign. |
My favorite thing about the city is the diversity. The crazy people, the cool people, just everything you see even just taking the bus down the street. The shopping, of course, that's my fave. The park – Golden Gate Park. The museums. Just how much there is in such a little space. There's so much to do here.
I can't really predict the future. Right now, I just plan on kind of taking a year off, but in that year off I kind of want to get an internship somewhere in an athletic department either in Arizona or California, just close to home. I definitely want to go to grad school and have that under my belt, and then whatever comes from that. Something in athletics though, absolutely.
You have a lot more freedom in college, so it's all about time management and how you balance your free time and your social life with actually getting work done. My freshman year I was all about spending time with my friends and not doing my homework. I still got good grades, but I wouldn't recommend it. After that first semester I figured out that I needed to get my work done first and my friends will still be here afterwards.
Teamwork. How to work in a group. Knowing when to take that leadership role. These are things I've learned through my time playing basketball.
The main difference between college and prep basketball is definitely just putting more time in. You have a lot more time you have to dedicate to it and the pace. You have to be in a lot better shape because it's a lot quicker than high school.
Either my freshman year or sophomore year, we beat Pepperdine by like 20 at home. We hadn't been doing well in conference at all and that was a surprise win for everyone, and we killed them. That was a really good moment because that was like the first time our team actually came together and put together a really good win. Since then we've been putting together some really good wins, but that was like the first one. I'll never forget that one.
I've definitely learned a lot about myself in the past couple years, in just how I act around others and how it affects other people. I've learned how to present myself in front of other people. As a player, I've learned that you have to sacrifice whatever you came with. Whatever if you were the best player at your high school, you have to sacrifice all that to be what your teams needs you to be.
I started playing basketball when I was in third grade. I was forced to play by my dad, but then everything starting coming so naturally to me. I was always really tall and I could always block shots. Then I was like, 'oh this is cool that I get to do all this stuff'. Ever since then I just stuck with it and my dad and I would play basketball every day. Just to see him so passionate about something made me passionate at a young age and I just kept with it.
When I was little, everything my dad did, I did. Anything he liked, I liked. So if my dad liked basketball, I loved basketball. I just wanted to be my dad when I was younger.
If you came to my apartment right now, it's super clean and neat and everything is in order. I have to have things in order. Everything has to be clean, everything has to be neat. In my hotel room all my stuff is set out perfectly. Melody Khlok is the most messy to room with, I will come back to my room and her stuff is on my bed and I have to yell at her. This year, Aundrea [Gordon] is the best. She has her stuff laid out, ready days in advance.
My freshman year we had a different coaching staff and it was all about tough love, being able to handle adverse situations and being tough on you but still playing good. Since Coach Azzi and the new staff has come to USF, it's all about positivity and it's all about not holding on to mistakes and that's something that freshman year we didn't talk about. We didn't talk about nutrition, we didn't talk about the things that we talk about now that help us perform at a higher level. The mindset has changed a lot.
I'm going to miss my team, just being around them all the time and having my sisters near me at all times. That's going to be the hardest thing for me. They're family.
They'll always be family.
