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SALT LAKE CITY — During a Utah women’s basketball practice, head coach Lynne Roberts had split her team into two to compete against each other in a drill. The rule is the losing team has to do some sort of conditioning drill. After the whistle blew, the score ended in a tie. Roberts, who was pleased who both of the team's efforts, called for a water break.
There was one person who wasn’t happy Roberts recalled. That person was freshman guard Brynna Maxwell.
Maxwell doesn’t like to lose and she doesn’t like things to end in a tie. Call it her competitive nature or her desire to win at everything she does, but the Washington native has loved basketball since she was a little girl, according to her father, Steve.
“No one loves basketball more than her, she’s passionate about it,” Steve Maxwell said. “It’s been her love since she was four or five years old. She’s had a natural drive and big dreams. I didn’t put those there, those were just part of who she was and I've just done what I can to help her along the way.”
As a freshman, Brynna is leading the team with an average of 14 points per game, 3-pointers made, and field goals made. Her tremendous shooting ability was something the Utes noticed her eighth-grade year. They were also the first school that took notice of the young athlete.
“They were the first school that started recruiting me,” Brynna Maxwell said. “A lot of schools hopped on the bandwagon; they were the first school to believe in me, I got my first letter from them, my first scholarship offer from them.”
Roberts still remembers the moment when she got the text from Brynna, asking her if she could talk in an hour. Roberts had told Brynna previously that if she committed to Utah, she would be doing cartwheels. After what seemed to be the longest hour of her coaching career, the call came in and Brynna told Roberts that she better start doing cartwheels.
One of the biggest things that attracted Brynna to Utah was the underdog mentality that they play with because of how competitive the Pac-12 is. Utah was picked to finish seventh in the Pac-12 preseason rankings. Brynna Maxwell led her high school team, Gig Harbor, to a State Championship two seasons ago. She is the school record holder for total points (1,968), total points in a season (671) and points in a game (48).
“That was a big part,” Brynna Maxwell said about being the underdog. “My whole high school career we were considered the underdogs. I mean, in the state tournament, we were a two seed and we beat a seven seed and everyone said it was an upset, so that was something. The vision that Coach Rob has of building this team up the same way I was helping build up my high school team, I just loved that journey in high school and want to continue it in college.”
For Roberts, it was easy to see why she wanted Brynna on her team. Her quick release, great shooting, and her attitude of attacking everything she sets to accomplish were just the start.
“She’s very humble,” Roberts said. "She understands that it’s not about her. She cares about winning, but she has a humble confidence and I think that’s what great players have — that humility. Every elite player I’ve ever been around that humility to say ‘I can always get better’, but still have the confidence to know I’m pretty dang good, she brings life and fun, but she’s very humble.”
The goals that Brynna Maxwell has for herself and her teammates are limitless. She’s always motivated by something.
“I think it’s just that underdog mentality,” she said with a smile. “Like ‘why not us?' There’s no pressure on us, everyone doesn’t think we’ll be that good this year. We were picked seventh in the Pac-12, so no one is expecting a lot from us. But we have big expectations, we have dreams, we want to make the tournament, and I think we can if we work really hard and I’m excited to see where it takes us.”
Carra McManamon is a native of Washington State and is attending the University of Utah. Contact her at cmcmanamon@deseretdigital.com or follow her on Twitter: @curramac22
