Gophers women's basketball junior Sara Scalia reinvents her game while carving a legacy

There are times, when she sees Sara Scalia getting the ball in rhythm, rising up behind the three-point arc and letting a shot go with that nice spin, that Gadiva Hubbard knows she can turn and start running towards the defensive end.

"You just know it's going to fall,'' Hubbard said.

Hubbard knows good shooting.

Her career goes back to 2016, which means she played two seasons with Carlie Wagner, one of the sweetest three-point shooters in Gophers history, currently third in career program scoring.

Asked to compare the two — their styles, their ability to hit from behind the arc — Hubbard demurred. But she does know this: Given how hard Scalia, the Stillwater native, works, the hours she puts in, on her own, in the gym, the summers focused on improvement, Hubbard sees a player who could end up being one of the best players in program history.

"When Sara first got here, we knew she was a great shooter,'' Hubbard said. "We saw her when she was in high school. But she's grown. She has expanded her game.''

The Gophers play Northwestern on Thursday in a second-round Big Ten tournament game. They enter it having won two games in a row. Scalia? She was named second-team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and the media this week. She enters the game having scored in double figures in 20 consecutive games, averaging 20.5 points and shooting nearly 45% on three-pointers in that time.

She also enters the game with a target on her back. When point guard Jasmine Powell left the program and entered the NCAA's transfer portal earlier this season, Scalia went from off-guard to on the ball. With Powell and her scoring gone, Scalia became every opponent's top priority. She has been double-teamed and trapped. Teams have run box-and-ones on her, following her all over the court, even well beyond the three-point line, knowing her range.

"She's had to change positions,'' Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen said. "She's had to really kind of, I won't say reinvent herself, but she's had to figure out different spots on the floor to be effective."

As her third season winds down, Scalia said she hasn't thought much about things like legacy or exactly what her mark on the program will be.

"Not really,'' she said. "Not much. Every once in a while a coach will say something about it.''

There is too much going on right now for Scalia, hundreds of shots to be taken before or after practice, the next game to prepare for, a summer of work ahead.

Here's a rundown:

Scalia currently has 1,099 points, good for 21st on the Gophers all-time list, having just passed Gophers assistant coach Kelly Curry (nee Roysland, 1,074). If she stays healthy and plays two more seasons at about the level she's playing at now, there's a chance Scalia could get close to or pass Wagner, who scored 2,215 points in four seasons.

With 204 three-pointers made, Scalia is already seventh on the Gophers all-time list, 150 short of Rachel Banham's program-best 354. At the rate she's making threes this season — 3.4 a game, second-best in the Big Ten — that record could be hers, too.

"That would be pretty crazy,'' Scalia said. "A lot of great players have come through this program. I've had a little success this year, I guess. I've worked hard.''

That, really, should be Scalia's legacy. She hasn't just worked on her shot. She has put in time trying to be better off the dribble when run off the three-point line, at finishing inside. There is improvement there, with room for more; this season her three-point shooting percentage (42.6) is better than her overall shooting (40.1).

But this season has kind of been a crash course in adapting as defenses have zeroed in on Scalia. "You have to be mentally tough,'' Whalen said. "All that extra weight, the burden. She's done a good job of handling that.''

Scalia's assists nearly doubled down the stretch, compared to her season-long numbers. She has gone back to the step-back three — a staple of her high school days at Stillwater — to find space. When Powell was at her best, she could draw defenders and dish to Scalia. Now Scalia is often initiating the offense.

"I have grown as a player since Jas left,'' Scalia said. "I had to work more as a distributor. It's a sacrifice.''

There will be a lot to work on this summer. With five seniors leaving the program, Scalia will have to become more of a vocal leader, not a natural strength. "I've come a long way since freshman year,'' she said. "Freshman year I didn't say a word.''

Scalia will spend her summer trying to get stronger, better at finishing at the rim. And, of course, working on her shot.

But she is eager to play with the 10th-ranked recruiting class nationally that Whalen and her staff have coming in, a four-Minnesotan class of Mara Braun (Wayzata), Amaya Battle (Hopkins), Nia Holloway (Eden Prairie) and Mallory Heyer (Chaska). Braun and Battle are guards who, if they live up to expectations, should be able to create a lot of space for Scalia.

Scalia knows all of them. Because their families know each other, she probably knows Braun the best.

"It's exciting,'' Scalia said. "I'm excited. I think they all love the game, they all want to get better. And they're all from Minnesota. I love watching 'em play, and I'm excited to play with them.''