By Mike Rose | Sports Editor
Anna Lee came to Brockport like many high school athletes; a star at her school. Making the leap from her high school in Johnstown, NY to the college game presented new challenges for Johnstown’s all-time leading scorer.
“I think that as a freshman I lacked a lot of confidence on the court because I was
the youngest on the team,” Lee said. “College ball is different than high school. You can come from high school and be the best player and then you go to college and play with a bunch of people who were also the best players. I think freshman year is a learning experience.”
While Lee played limited minutes in her freshman season, she was motivated to earn her way into a larger role as she began to get more comfortable with the college game.
“I definitely put in a lot more work in the offseason,” Lee said. “I would stay after practice late and get shots up. I think the best way to build your confidence is just getting in the gym on your own. Once you do that, you’ll be able to apply what you worked on to the court when you’re playing. I think this season I saw the results of that.”
The results were certainly evident. Lee went from starting just one game and aver- aging 8.5 minutes and 1.7 points per game as a freshman to leading the team with 27 minutes per game, including 17 starts and scoring 6.3 points per game. She says the trust placed in her by head coach Corinne Jones allowed her confidence to continue to grow throughout the season.
“When you have teammates and coaches that can trust you and your decision making out on the court it makes you confident out there. And it’s like ‘okay I am doing what I’m supposed to be doing out there and I’m doing well,’” Lee said.
As she moves into her junior season next year, Lee says she hopes to expand her scoring versatility to help provide Brockport with more offense as they lose their third leading scorer in senior Anna Felice.
“I think this season we’ve seen spurts of me doing different things, but it wasn’t very consistent,” Lee said. “Now as one of our main scorers (Felice) is gone, I think I want to be more of a scorer. I want to work on my shot in all different areas; the three pointers, the pull up jumper, taking it to the rim, I just want to be a scorer. Once I keep seeing the ball going in the hoop, it will make me more confident out there. So then when it comes time for the season, I don’t have to worry about the close games, I can just fall back on the things I’ve worked on.”
Those early challenges for Lee feel like far off memories now as she looks to ascend back to the role she once occupied back in high school at Johnstown — a star.
