Bria Stallworth’s impressive high school career foreshadowed the great attributes that she was going to bring to the UMass women’s basketball team. Just six games into the season, she has quickly become a standout player that shows promising contributions to her new team for the next three years.

Stallworth was a leading player at her high school for four years between Homewood-Flossmoor and Marist High School, earning varsity letters in all four basketball seasons she played.

“I started real organized basketball, around the third grade. I used to watch my dad play in his league and he kind of put me around it and then he finally put me in recreational basketball, so that’s really how I got started,” Stallworth said.

Her senior year, she earned the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Fourth Team All-State honors as well as being ranked the No. 33 point guard nationally according to ESPN

Although the distance from her hometown of Chicago, Illinois, caused her to be hesitant about attending UMass, Stallworth believes it was the perfect choice for her in the end.

“When I came on my visit, it just felt right for me. I saw the team and how much we had going for us and what the future could be like,” Stallworth said. “And on top of that it had good academics so it was a good fit for me.”

In the freshman’s collegiate debut, Stallworth dropped 19 points and six assists while playing 38 of 40 minutes for the Minutewomen. On the season, she is leading the team in scoring, averaging 13.5 points per game, and has shot 90 percent from the free-throw line.

In November, Stallworth was honored as the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for the period ending Nov. 16.

The point guard is a psychology major and plans to use her degree for her life after college if basketball doesn’t work out. But it is apparent that basketball is her number one aspiration in life.

“I want every year to be better and better, I want to be able to prove people wrong with the team.”

Mollie Walker can be reached at [email protected].