Ashlyn Sturdy commits to Millikin

<strong>[player_tooltip player_id="121858" first="Ashlyn" last="Sturdy"]</strong> announced on Monday that she will be attending Millikin next year to play for Coach Olivia Lett and the Big Blue. Ashlyn ended her high school career at Tri City with over 2,000 points and over 500 rebounds, assists and steals. She prides herself in being the type of player that can contribute in any way the team needs her to contribute. If the team needs scoring, she can do that, if the teams needs her to be a facilitator and play tough defense then she will do that.The goal is always to help win games and she will do whatever is needed to achieve that goal. The process of making this decision has been something that Ashlyn has been working towards over a period of more than a year. She has been able to make many unofficial visits to see different campuses and get a feeling for what she liked and what she wanted. In the end Ashlyn came to realize that she wanted to duplicate the small town atmosphere that has been a part of her formative years. This helped her to narrow her choices to the smaller schools. From there Ashlyn focused on academics and the basketball program to determine the best options for her. She has always been focused on academics and wanted to ensure that she found a school that offers the top notch Chemistry program that she will parlay into an entry into the medical field. Through this process she was able to cut the viable options to two schools. Millikin and Lawrence University in Appleton Wisconsin. Winning is very important to Ashlyn and she chose Millikin because she felt it was the best chance for her to continue a career that is defined by being a winner. She is bought in to what Coach Lett is building and wants to be a part of the process. Ashlyn believes her opportunity to play at a small school has enhanced her ability to get recognition. This might be different than what many players believe. Often the impression is that playing at the bigger schools, on the bigger stage, is most desirable. For Ashlyn getting to become a starter as a freshman, which probably would not have been the case at a bigger school,was the beginning of this path. That experience of stepping in, accepting whatever role and minutes were available and blending in with the older players has prepared her for college. The expanded role that she took on after her freshman season allowed Ashlyn the chance to become well known by colleges. The awards and name recognition from being a main cog in a winning program provided exposure. This is also much like a college program where your role will change from year to year based on new personnel. Ashlyn mentioned to me that she really believes that AAU ball was also critical to her development. By playing against high level players during the summer she was able to really understand how her talents compared to high level players around the midwest. This helped her form a plan of what skills to focus on improving to help her game get to a level where she can compete in college. The plan coming in to Millikin is to be ready to compete for playing time right away. Ashlyn did not spend much time on the bench in high school and certainly hopes to play as many minutes as she can earn as a college freshman. She knows that the ability to hit the 3-pointer will be a factor in earning playing time and as a player that hit over 35% from the arc in high school, she can help in that area. Ashlyn handles the ball well and does a good job in the open floor of pushing the ball up the court. That is important as a player transitions to the longer college court where the game is often more wide open. She can afford to increase her strength in the weight room to handle to physical nature of the college game, but that applies to almost all incoming freshman. Ashlyn wants to play in a program that will push her to reach her full potential and she feels confident that Millikin is that program. In the end not only is this the story of a player that has had a huge high school career preparing to take her talents to the next level, it is a road map for others girls to follow. Let Ashlyn be your guide to handling the recruiting process. She took the time to look around, take visits, learn about the different schools that were interested in her and she was interested in learning about. This process allowed her to learn enough about herself and what was out there to determine what was important to her and what she was looking for in a school. Academics were at the forefront of her decision making process. She knows that playing college basketball is a part of the process but a career in the medical field is the end game. She took her time and did not rush a decision. Ashlyn played out her senior season and did not let the process become a distraction. Once the season was over and she could return her focus to the decision at hand, she went with her feelings on what was best for her and made the move. Everything was on her terms and her timing, despite what others may have wanted. In the end, I believe the wait was worth it for Coach Lett. The Big Blue is getting a heck of a player and probably an even better teammate and person. &nbsp;