Growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, Perryman averaged 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 steals in her senior year at East High School. She lead the Lady Thunderbirds to a 27-0 record, winning the state championship, and being named Alaska Player of the Year. But like most high school stars, Perryman still had a lot to learn about playing college basketball.

As a freshman on the Stanford Cardinal, Perryman saw action in 32 games, averaging 3.8 points and 3.6 rebounds. Without starting a single game, she recorded a pair of double-doubles, scored a season-high 17 points against UCLA, and pulled down 16 rebounds against Washington State.

It was an impressive performance for a freshman, but after her stellar high school record, Perryman faced a difficult transition. One season later, all the hard, humbling work of freshman year is paying off. When superstar Nicole Powell was out nursing a back injury at the beginning of the season, sophomore Perryman quickly stepped up to the challenge.

She's nearly doubled the total number of points she scored last year, and after going through a mid-season slump, has proven herself again to be an important member of the team. Perryman led the Cardinal against Rutgers (15 points, 6 rebounds), USF (13 points, 16 rebounds), Princeton (17 points, 18 rebounds), Arizona (10 points, 12 rebounds), and Oklahoma (14 points, 14 rebounds). And now, with Powell back to health, Stanford is ready to compete for another Pac-10 title.

In the following interview, Perryman discusses growing up in Alaska, why she quit basketball in junior high, making the transition to college basketball, and finding her place on the Cardinal squad.

Gball: How's your season going so far?
Azella: Pretty good. We're playing a lot better than we were at the beginning of the year, which is something you always want to have happen with your team. Everybody is getting along great, and we're really gelling as a unit.

How do you feel about your performance?
I slumped last month, and that was a little frustrating, because I'd been putting up some good numbers at the beginning of the season, and I wasn't living up to my own expectations. Since then, we've changed a couple of things in our offense, and I'm doing pretty good again.

You've had some great games this year. What's been the highlight of your season so far?
I don't think I've had one yet. I think when we get into tournament play, things will really get exciting. Without Nicole at the start of this season, everybody on our team has stepped up and had some really high scoring games. It's just been a matter of everybody doing whatever we need to keep us going.

How does this year compare to last year?
It's a lot different. My role has changed, I'm playing a lot more. Now that I'm a sophomore, and now that I've gotten some game time, Coach Van DerVeer is really expecting a lot more out of me. We went from having five seniors last year to none this year, so that's very different. Everybody has had to pick up their game just a little bit more, pick up the intensity, step into a new role.

What's your role on this team?
I provide the energy. My coaches really want me to focus on rebounding the ball, which is incredibly important at any level of the game. That's what wins championships. So my role is definitely to be a rebounder, to bring energy to the team, to get those put-backs.

How does your role feel different from when you were playing at East High in Anchorage?
The difference here is that everybody is at a higher level of play. We have a whole team full of players who can each put up 20 or 30 points a night. We've got Sebnem Kimyacioglu, who can bust threes all day. We've got Nicole Powell, who's passing, shooting, rebounding, doing everything. So I'm not necessarily the only one.

How did it feel to start your freshman year on the bench?
It's a difficult transition for anybody who plays. Most superstars at their high schools go on to being a role player in college, at least to begin with. It's hard, but it's a transition that virtually everybody has to make. It's a matter of paying dues, waiting your turn and learning things. I definitely think that as a freshman I got a lot of experience, just by practicing with the team. It's a whole different level, it's a whole different intensity at college, and it's good for people to pay those dues freshman year, to learn the system, to learn how everything works. Then for the next three years, you can come out and produce.

Were you surprised that the college game was so different?
Coach Dorena Bingham, my coach in high school, definitely prepared me for that. First of all, it's great to be the Player of the Year in Alaska, but it's not the same level of competition you're going to face in California. So she let me know, "You're really good here, but when you go out and play against the top players from every other state in America, you're just going to be one of many. You need to be able to deal with that now, to put that into perspective, and know that you are going to one of the top ten schools in the country. So if you're sitting on the bench the first year, that's okay. Because you're playing behind some awesome people." And she was right.

What was it like to grow up in Anchorage?
It was pretty cool. I think most people have a misconception of what it's like in Alaska. Anchorage is a pretty urban place, we've got over 250,000 people living there, so it's pretty much like growing up anywhere else. I'm not an outdoors person, so I didn't really take advantage of the skiing, fishing, hunting, all that stuff. To me, it was just like growing up in any other city, minus some of the big brand-name stores.

When did you start playing basketball?
I started playing at the YMCA when I was five. And then my dad started a league in Anchorage, and I played in that until I was about 12. Then in junior high I quit, and I didn't play at all until the summer before my freshman year of high school.

Why did you quit?
When I first started playing basketball, I was mainly doing it for my dad, because he's such a huge basketball player. He played in college and in the CBA, so I just wanted to play for him. But by the time I got to age 12, that didn't really work anymore, because then I was going up against real competition, people who wanted more than to just have fun. It just became apparent that I didn't love the game. And it was just too hard for my dad to watch me, too hard for me to play, to go out everyday and just go through the motions. So I quit. And I think that time off in junior high really helped me redefine why I was playing. I realized I did love the game, and I did want to be out there. So I came back.

What do you love about playing basketball?
I love the competition. I love being part of a team. I love making new friends, and I love traveling. Basketball has done so many things for me in life. It's helped me in so many ways: in self-esteem, self-confidence, all those things that young girls need. Basketball gave them to me.

What drew you to Stanford?
My mother always pushed academics, my dad always pushed athletics. So when I saw Stanford had both of those things coming together, I knew it was just the perfect place. They've won the Sears [NACDA Director's] Cup consistently for the past 8, 10 years, so you know the level of competition is very challenging. The people here are looking to do great things in life. They're not just trying to be good, they're trying to be the best.

What's been your hardest course so far?
Introductory Chinese, definitely. I'm half-Chinese, so I could count from one to ten, say "hello," "goodbye," and "I love you." I thought that for my language requirement, I would get to know all about reading and writing. But it kicked my butt so bad, I have never worked so hard on a class in my entire life. I might take it again, before I leave college, just to have a better grasp of it. But my GPA couldn't handle it this year.

What are you studying?
I'm going to major in economics and psychology. I want to go into marketing and advertising, so I figure that if I put those two majors together, I can get pretty close.

Which has been harder to adjust to, academics or athletics?
Athletics. The course load is definitely tough, because Stanford is one of the best colleges in the nation. So you can always study harder, and learn better study techniques. But there's nothing in high school that can prepare you for the intensity of college ball. Every aspect of your life--emotional, psychological, physical--is so dominated by athletics, it affects absolutely everything in your life.

What are you working on right now as a player?
Being mentally tough, trying not to let my frustration show. That's something a lot of players struggle with, especially girls. We let our emotions get in the way, and I'm really trying to work on playing through things. So I keep telling myself, "Okay, you messed up, whatever. You need to move onto the next play." It's like my coach says, "Every play is a new play. You can't dwell on whatever you did the last time, and you can't go back and do something different. You have to focus on what you're doing now, making this pass, or this next shot."

Where else has she been trying to improve your game?
Offensive rebounding, she's always trying to get us to go to the O-boards. But mostly, she's been trying to preach to me about mental toughness, because my role on the team has changed this year. As a freshman, I may have been physically ready for the game, but I wasn't mentally ready. So she's been teaching me how to handle the pressure, and if I mess up, how to get back on my feet quickly. That's what makes a really good player, somebody who can contribute to a team's success every night.

Who's the toughest player you've had to guard so far this year?
Krista Warren from Arizona is the one who's scored the most off me, so I'd have to say her. There hasn't been anybody else who made me look so incredibly bad.

What did you learn from that experience?
That I have to play to each player's weaknesses. We scout each team, and our coach tells us beforehand what their favorite moves are. So I really need to concentrate on that: If they like to turn their right shoulder with a fadeaway jumper, I need to crowd them. And if they like to go to the basket, I need to give them the space to take the charge. I just need to play smarter and focus on the things that I know how to do.

What do you when you're not on the court?
Homework. There's not really a lot of free time at Stanford when you're playing a sport. When I do get some, I'll probably just be kicking it with my friends, or going over to people's places. I don't watch a lot of TV, I'd rather read a book than watch television. When we travel, I usually stop at a bookstore and pick up a paperback from the best-seller list so I'll have something to read on the trip.

The Cardinal website says that your favorite food is Jell-o. Is that really true?
It was when I wrote it, because we had to eat in the dorms, and every single night I ate Jell-o after everything else, so I just wrote that down for my favorite food. But that was before I tried Thai food, that's my favorite now.

What do you want to do after college?
I want to go to Business School at Stanford, but you have to have a couple of years of experience in the real world. So I'm trying as hard as I can to find an internship this summer in advertising, marketing or public relations. Then hopefully, I'll have a place I can go to right out of college.

What would you say to girls who are thinking about playing basketball in college, or trying to have a career in basketball?
Get in the gym. Play as much as you can. Play with a passion. Push yourself as hard as you can on every single drive. And don't let anybody else want it more than you do. You don't have to play a sport, but you it's important to be involved in the things you have a passion for. Because that's going to make a huge difference. It's going to help you meet people, and it's going to give you confidence. As a teenage girl, I was very self-conscious, very unconfident. Basketball pulled me out of my shell, gave me confidence, and helped me grow.

Interview conducted by Gball Editor Kenny Berkowitz.


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