By: Julee Christianson '11
Women’s basketball freshman forward Ashley Ward (Irvine, Calif.) sat down with GoSeattleU.com to discuss her rookie season and her transition into the starting lineup at Seattle U.
GoSeattleU (SU): What is the biggest difference between high school and college basketball?
Ashley Ward (AW): Definitely the intensity. Workouts and practices are a lot harder and it’s a lot more serious here. Competition is a lot better, too. It’s nice that you don’t play easy teams and that everyone on the court is good.
SU: You’ve lived in multiple countries. Where does Seattle rank in your favorite places to live?
AW: Seattle is a little different because it’s much colder than most of the other places I’ve lived. I did live in England, which was cold, and I’m not a big fan of the coldness. I definitely like California, where I lived for most of my life. Seattle is nice and I like it. It’s a different kind of atmosphere from the other places I’ve lived.
SU: How did you get the nickname Simba?
AW: From [assistant coach] Joy [Hollingsworth] because Simba from “The Lion King” lived in Africa, which was where I was born. I can thank Joy for that one.
SU: What has it been like to be a freshman on this transition team?
AW: It is different being in a transition, being challenged by every game and not winning as much as I had hoped. It’s been fun, but definitely hard. It has been a learning process.
SU: This season you’ve gone from playing about 11 minutes, to making 8 starts and playing over 30 minutes. How do you feel about this personal transition?
AW: I am obviously happy that I’m playing more. I’ve never really been in that position of not having much playing time, and I’m sure that happens with most players coming into college. I’ve been working hard and getting extra shots up, so I will hopefully keep it up.
SU: Your team has a down week this week. What are you expecting practices to be like?
AW: I would say they might be a bit harder because we don’t have to save our legs for a game. It should be good though, and we will have a lot of competition stuff.
SU: How are you and the team expecting to do in your final games at the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament?
AW: Hopefully we can get some wins. I don’t really know how the competition is, but hopefully we can play together. I think the team has really changed for the better in the second half of the season.
SU: This season your team hasn’t played two games in a row, let allow three like they will next weekend. How do you think the team is going to adjust?
AW: I think we’ll adjust well. Hopefully we’ll start out with a win that will give us momentum for the rest of the weekend. We might be a little tired at times, but we just have to forget about it and keep playing hard. We’re definitely a team that is known for playing hard so I don’t think it will affect us very much.
Ward and the Redhawks will play three games at the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament from Mar. 4-6, taking on host Florida Gulf Coast, SIU Edwardsville and Longwood.