January 27, 2005

     NEW HAVEN: Kristi Stolle's statistics might not jump out, but it's been her play, especially on defense, that has helped jump-start a 16-2 beginning and a No. 24 ranking in the Division II national poll for the Southern Connecticut women's basketball team.
     "We wouldn't be (16-2) without her," Southern Connecticut coach Joe Frager said. "Every game she has to defend the opponent's best player. And her assist-to-turnover ratio is outstanding."
     Stolle is more glue than glitz, but that's fine with the 5-foot-8 junior guard.
     "I know when you look at a box score, you don't see it," said Stolle, a 1,000-point scorer at Wamogo-Litchfield High, where her father John was an assistant coach. "But when I look at the person I guarded, and I know they were averaging 17 coming in and I held them below that, I know I did my part. And I'm happy with that."
     Stolle is fourth on the team with 6.2 points per game, third with 25 steals, third with 3.7 rebounds and third with 36 assists. She has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and she leads the team by making 79.5 percent of her free throws.
     Despite guarding the opponent's most prolific perimeter scorer, Stolle has committed just 33 fouls in 18 games.
     "I am more of a contain-type player than a risk-taker," Stolle said. "If they get it, I'm not going to let them get by me. I don't care if they get the ball, I just don't want them to score."
     Defense has always been a strong point for Stolle, the third collegiate athlete in her family, following older sisters Tracy (basketball at Hartford) and Kelly (field hockey at UConn). Her younger sister Kerri is also active in several sports.
     When Kristi was in grammar school, she competed for a boys' travel basketball team. She used to hear opponents yelling, "You're being guarded by a girl, go by her. She can't stop you." That's all the motivation Stolle needed.
     "I used to love stopping them," Stolle said. "I still love defending the best player on the other team."
     Southern, on a school-record 13-game winning streak, is holding opponents to 49.9 points per game, lowest in the Northeast-10 Conference, and defeating teams by an average of 12.8 points, second in the conference.
     Stolle competed for Frager on the Connecticut Starters AAU team when she was younger, while Frager was still the head coach at Seymour High.
     "I understood his style and had a lot of respect for him," Stolle said.