It’s been a few months since Stephanie Jones played or practiced basketball competitively, but that break is about to end.
Jones, a recent graduate and 6-2 starting forward for the University of Maryland women’s basketball team, is taking her talents to Poland.
Jones, who now has a degree in kinesiology, said she signed a one-season contract in early July and now she waits to head across the seas to Wroclaw, Poland.
“Overall, I’m super excited, just to be able to play again, because it’s been so long. Also, just to say that I’m a professional basketball player is also a plus, too, cause since I was little that’s always been a dream, just to be a pro,” Jones said. “I’m just like living out my dream to be able to play at that level and I’m really just excited, just to be able to play again.”
Jones is scheduled to leave her Havre de Grace home Aug. 23. After a few scrimmage-type games, Jones says the season begins in September and play could last into March or April, depending on success of the team. Jones will play for Sleza.
The chance to play anywhere professionally was a welcome relief for Jones, who had hoped to maybe see her name on the WNBA draft board in April.
”There was definitely some hope, I talked to a coach and it was just kind of like just how the whole draft went down, where certain people went,” Jones said. “I was hoping for it, but at the end of the day, it’s still not out of the picture. I still feel like down the line, I can still get there, so anything can happen.”
Jones says she’ll keep working and go overseas and keep playing. “I do feel like without the whole Corona thing, I probably would have gone to a training camp or something. Just to have that experience and opportunity would have been nice,” she said.”
Of course, Jones, like so many others, had her senior season cut short. Jones and the Terps were Big Ten regular season champions and Big Ten Tournament champions, but they were cut short of national title hopes when all NCAA athletic play was halted in March.
“It definitely sucks. Especially, being a senior, that was probably the worst part, but as a player in general, you work your whole season to be able to play in the tournament and you’re really looking forward to that once it gets there,” Jones said. “As a senior, it just sucks because it’s your last go-around, you won’t have that opportunity to redeem yourself.”
Jones and her teammates had unfinished business. “Our last two seasons, we lost kind of early, just to have been able to get over that hump would have been nice this year. Was really looking forward to it,” she said. The Terps were on a roll, having won 17 straight games.
Jones had a solid career at Maryland. “My sophomore year was probably the hardest because we had so many transfers, sister Bri [Jones] and Shatori [Walker-Kimbrough] leaving, it was just like a big chunk of our team had left and it felt like it was up to us as that sophomore class to step up and really come into a leadership role,” Jones said. “I think that really prepared me for the rest of my career.”
In four seasons, Jones finished with 1,302 career points, 693 rebounds, 151 steals and 78 blocks. Jones played in 134 games, making 90 starts.
Jones followed older sister Brionna Jones to Maryland after both helped lead Aberdeen to Class 3A state titles in 2012 and 2013. 2013 was Brionna’s senior season, a season cut short by an ACL tear. Despite the injury, Brionna went on to have a stellar career at Maryland, that led to a spot in the WNBA Draft with the Connecticut Sun. Brionna also plays professionally overseas in the Czech Republic.
It was ironic that in Stephanie’s senior high school season, she, too, suffered an ACL tear. So, going to Maryland, following sister Bri, was probably the best thing. “It was great to see, just experience what she had been doing for the past three years, like first hand, like that. Just to be able to learn from her whole process and her work ethic there, too,” Jones said. “I came in with an ACL tear just like she did, so just seeing how she worked to get herself back and it kind of helped me kind of mentally prepare for that. Just her being there helped, too. It’s kind of a hard injury to come back from and having her there to support was also a plus.”
So, in a matter of just a couple of weeks, Stephanie Jones will be headed to Poland and she will have to eat. “I’ve been overseas a few times, Italy and Taiwan, it’s not that hard to find American type food, but it is also really interesting to try those foods, so I’m looking forward to both though,” Jones said. “It will be an experience.”