���I always thought I was a
leader,��� Stephen said. ���But
to be honest, I never knew
what a leader was until this
year ... Everyone wants to
be a leader or take credit
when things are going
good. But you have to be
able to do the same things
when things aren���t so good,
when they���re rough.������
don���t know if my body could handle it.������
Because of a short bench, Stephen has been
averaging 34 minutes a game. ���It���s been hard
for her this year because she really hasn���t had a
sub, somebody who can give her a little break,������
Kelsey said.
But she has still embraced the challenge,
which has earned Kelsey���s respect.
���She has become more of an adult in her
thinking and approach to adversity and things
that don���t go her way,������ Kelsey said. ���It���s most
rewarding because she has made a 180 turn.
���She probably feels like if I just had one more
(year) she could play with Taylor and Michala
Johnson (the Connecticut transfer who���s redshirting this season).
���It would take some of the pressure off of her
to always have to be the leader. I said to her, ���It���s
hard to lead, isn���t it?��� Everybody wants to lead, but
people don���t realize it���s hard to bring folks along.
���You���re carrying yourself ��� and what you���re going
through ��� and you have to bring some freshmen
and sophomores along. Our upperclassmen are not
as vocal as she is, so it falls on her a lot.������
Stephen had to learn how to get others to follow
her lead.
���It���s definitely challenging,������ she said. ���I always
thought I was a leader. But to be honest, I never
knew what a leader was until this year. Last year,
we had Ashley (Thomas) and I led in a different
way.
���Everyone wants to be a leader or take credit when
things are going good. But you have to be able to do
the same things when things aren���t so good, when
they���re rough.������
Sometimes you learn by trial and error. As a
freshman, Stephen played in 37 games and started the last 10 for Louisville, including the NCAA
championship game against UConn, a 76-54 loss.
Just playing in the national final, the dream of
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