UNLV’s Paris Strawther shapes up for sophomore season

UNLV women’s basketball coach Kathy Olivier needs only one letter to describe 6-foot-2-inch sophomore Paris Strawther.

“In so many different ways, she’s just an ‘A.’ She’s an ‘A,’” Olivier said. “Good student, good teammate, does things right, pays attention, has it going on.”

Strawther received a different grade on her conditioning tests before her freshman year, though.

“I failed all of them,” she said.

With two post players graduating, Strawther knew she would be stepping into a bigger role as a sophomore, so she took it upon herself to bring her conditioning up to another level over the summer. The results were immediate, starting with this year’s conditioning tests, in which she performed much better.

Now she is making her presence felt on the court. Strawther posted double-doubles in the first two games and is averaging 16.0 points and 12.0 rebounds for the Lady Rebels (2-0), who play Southern California at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Thomas &Mack Center.

Strawther, a Las Vegas native and Liberty High graduate, admits she had a difficult transition to college after twice being Nevada’s Gatorade Player of the Year runner-up.

“I didn’t know what to expect physically, I guess you could say,” Strawther said. “I knew it was going to be definitely tougher because high school is completely different, but I didn’t prepare as well as I thought I did coming into college. The pace of the game and being able to play longer, I struggled with that a lot.”

She played in 32 games as a freshman, but started none and averaged only 11.9 minutes. She averaged 3.5 points and 3.6 rebounds playing behind Aley Rohde and Amie Callaway.

“She was a very good student of the game,” Olivier said. “She didn’t sit there and whine and complain that she wasn’t playing, that she was playing behind seniors. She learned from the two seniors, and she watched. She was extremely attentive on the sidelines.”

But she wasn’t satisfied. Strawther knew she could contribute more and expressed as much in her season-ending meeting with Olivier. The coach asked her how the season went and subsequently followed up by asking if 10 or 11 minutes was enough for Strawther.

She said no.

“I said, ‘OK, well how are we going to change that?’ I was hoping she was going to tell me how she was going to change that, and then she said that she needed to be in better shape,” Olivier said. “I said, ‘OK, good, how are we going to do that?’ And she just talked about being more committed over the summer.”

So Strawther was out early a few times a week working hard. She hit the track with Olivier, who charted Strawther’s progress on her smartphone.

Strawther then would head inside, shoot a bit, run some more and then lift with strength and conditioning coach Jason Kabo, all in hopes she could make more of an impact this season with Callaway and Rohde gone.

“I don’t want to say I was just there (last year),” Strawther said, “but I was just there, so now it’s like stepping into this season is different because they both graduated, and we needed some people to fill their shoes. I wanted to do that so I worked all summer long so I could try to do that.”

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.