FEBRUARY 25, 2010 ISSUE
Freshman Dewart Leading Way for ASU Women’s Basketball
ASU women’s basketball player Ashlen Dewart is leading the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game. She is ranked fourth in the Southern Conference in scoring and is only a freshman. Photo by Dave Mayo, ASU athletics As a high school player, Ashlen Dewart was a dominant scorer in the paint—just not like she has been as a freshman at ASU.
“It’s interesting that I score more now than I did in high school,” she said.
She’s had nights of 34, 30 and 25 points, posted two games of 14 rebounds, leads the team in field goal percentage (.532) and earned a Southern Conference Player of the Week award.
She leads the team, averaging 14.8 points per game, and has helped establish the women as one of the Southern Conference’s top teams.
“Every defense has to come in and say ‘How are we going to stop No. 44 on the inside?’” coach Darcy Vincent said.
Dewart has been hard to stop, though. Just like opponents had problems doing when she starred at Dorman (Spartanburg, S.C.) High School.
As a high school senior, she averaged 15.1 points and eight rebounds. She was named one of the top five senior players in the state and was on the South Carolina all-star team.
It really shouldn’t be a surprise that Dewart has excelled on the court.
Her parents, Angie and Jay, are in the Limestone College (located in Gaffney, S.C.) Athletic Hall of Fame for their basketball skills.
And five hours away, at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, sister Bailey is nursing a knee injury that has kept her out of action this season. The sisters stay in contact via text messages, phone calls and Facebook.
“I’m definitely jealous and I’ve told her that I am,” said Bailey, who averaged 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds last season. “I’m happy for her and I’m glad she’s doing well.”
Their parents have made plenty of road trips this season to see the Mountaineers play.
“I don’t want to say she can take over a game,” her father Jay said, “but she’s very difficult to stop when she makes up her mind that she wants to do something.”
Vincent is happy to see her freshman playing so well—which all four have done this season—and knows there is something special about Dewart.
“Ashlen is a player that no one else in the conference has. She’s big-bodied girl who has a lot of presence in there,” Vincent said. “She has a great set of hands. She can shoot the three. She’s very agile.”
With Dewart and freshmen classmates Kelsey Sharkey, Courtney Freeman and Anna Freeman playing so well, it’s not surprising that the Mountaineers are riding a wave of momentum toward the Southern Conference tournament in early March.
“The coaches are doing a good job of turning the four freshmen into who they want us to be,” Dewart said. “They’re still working on it.”
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