Q&A // Stefanie McLallen, Century, basketball

Century's Stefanie McLallen hopes to some day become a journalist. For now, however, the 16-year-old basketball player continues to leave her mark as one of the top scoring threats in Carroll County.

The 5-foot-10 junior entered this weekend's play averaging about 15 points per game, mostly by shooting nearly 50 percent from beyond the three-point line. She's also become an increasingly bigger threat for the Knights as a ballhandler and rebounder, intent to show defenders -- and prospective colleges -- she's more than one-dimensional.

Basketball, however, is just one of her passions. When she's not playing sports, you'll probably find her reading a book.

Your scoring average has increased around five points from last season. How are you now a better player than a year ago?

I've been driving to the basket a lot more than last year. Last year, all I was was a shooter, and I was a lot easier to guard. This year, I'm handling the ball a lot better and really going up strong.

Is ballhandling something you spent a lot of time working on during the offseason?

Yes. On my [Amateur Athletic Union] team, that's pretty much all I focused on. I didn't really shoot that much, because I really wanted to improve the part of my game that really wasn't clicking.

You play forward in high school, but with your particular abilities, do you see yourself as more of a guard in college?

Definitely, because my height really is more of a guard standard. And I'm more of a shooter than a post player -- I don't really have that many post moves.

A strength of your game this season has been your three-point shooting. Has that always been a strength of yours?

Yes, that's always kind of been the thing that I do and the thing that my coach relies on. As a kid, I had a really nice elbow shot, and my coaches have really helped me with range and not shooting just on the three-point line ,but kind of backing up. I shot 50 shots a day, pretty much, when I was in middle school. I still stay after practice a lot and shoot. But now that I'm more secure with my shot, I try to focus on driving to the basket.

Do you play any other sports?

I just started lacrosse a couple years ago, but it really caught on. I really enjoy it and it kind of gets me in shape for basketball season. And being a defender, I really enjoy having to whack people as much as I can.

Have you always been pretty aggressive by nature?

Yes, I've always been the tomboy.

I understand that you're also pretty interested in journalism. What is it about journalism that excites you?

I just love interviewing people and finding out a different angle on stories that people really don't know about.

Do you write for your school paper?

Yeah. It's really fun.

Are there any stories that you'd say you're particularly proud of?

I actually wrote this one story. It was an editorial on how our school is not school-spirited anymore -- no one comes to our girls games.

What kind of reaction did that get?

Definitely mixed. All of the boys in my school pretty much hated me. I enjoyed it though -- I don't care. I like mixing it up and causing controversy.

Is journalism something you plan to pursue in college?

Yeah, I've looked at a lot of liberal arts colleges out of state, like Kenyon College in Ohio and Washington and Lee. I've gotten calls about basketball, but my primary focus is just the school and how good it is.

Do you have any other hobbies?

I love to read -- that's all I do. I'll go home and get a book, and just sit down. I get yelled at by my mom a lot, "Do your homework." It's gotten bad. I'll get so many books and my mom will say, "I don't know why you're buying them. You need to go to the library." I read so many kinds of books. I'll read anything. I really like historical books, like the Trojan War and Greek stuff. But I also read teenage books like

Gossip Girl

.