Xavier’s Wanninger continues growing into her role

By Abbey Gotham

CINCINNATI, OH — Often times, fans focus on a team’s big player, choosing to pay attention to double-digit scoring and the number of rebounds one grabs. Sometimes, smaller statistics like assists, blocks or steals enter the discussion.

Rarely does one hear about a player that runs hard off of every screen, makes a run for every loose ball, or moves her feet on every defensive play.

These are some of the little things that sophomore guard Ashley Wanninger does for the Xavier Musketeers.

Head coach Amy Waugh refers to Wanninger as a “glue” player.  “Doing all the little things that kinda help us win that may not be noticed by the average fan or on the stat sheet,” is how Waugh describes her sophomore guard.  “She’s not going to be that kid that’s going to score a lot of points. She’s going to leave every ounce of her energy and effort on the floor every game.”

While she didn’t begin this season as a starter, Wanninger averages 28 minutes per game on the season, which puts her at tied for fourth on the team for playing time. This is a drastic change from the playing time she received last year on a team that finished 29-3 overall and went to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Wanninger spent last year on a nationally ranked team watching the talents of Amber Harris, Ta’Shia Phillips and Special Jennings. It was a great learning experience for Wanninger.

“Just knowing that I was recruited by those coaches and that caliber of players means a lot and it’s an honor, but last year I didn’t play a lot and this year I’m looking up to those people that played in the previous years and just going with it.”

Going from receiving scrap bench time her freshman year, to being a team leader midway through this season may seem like a big transition for someone, especially when adding in the transition needed with a change of coaches. Even though new head coach Amy Waugh was on the coaching staff last year, it has still turned into a rebuilding year for the Musketeers.

She has definitely stepped into a larger role this year and evolved into being a team leader and mediator which the team needed in a rebuilding year like this. Their record (8-19) has taken a drastic turn for the worse since last year (29-3).

Wanninger is still “excited” for the upcoming A10 tournament and thinks their record has “nothing to do with the tournament.”

On being asked who the favorite of A10 tournament is, Wanninger replied, “Definitely St. Bonaventure and maybe Dayton as well because those are the teams that really got us good.”

Even though Bonaventure is currently undefeated in league play, Wanninger commented: “I think now that we’ve seen their style of play, it’s easier to figure out how we need to play against them if we do get matched up with them.”

Wanninger is a Graphic Design major and a Cincinnati native, and attended Colerain High School and has always dreamed of playing Division I basketball. She was recruited by a lot of big name schools including Bowling Green, Illinois, Valparaiso, and rival Cincinnati. Of those, she said that Xavier was definitely one of her top choices because of being close to home and her family, even though her Dad went to UC, which made the choice challenging. In making her decision, Wanninger actually said that Christi Mack, wife of Men’s head coach Chris Mack, helped her in choosing Xavier.

In the second two years of her career, Wanninger commented, “I think I need to become more of a scoring threat and more confident with the ball.”

While she did average about 16ppg in high school, since then she has contributed 3.5ppg this season. If Sunday’s performance is any indication of the future, Wanninger will meet her goals. She had plenty of confidence in her shot during Xavier’s matchup with the Minutewomen of UMass, making four three-pointers in the first ten minutes of the game.

When asked about Wanninger’s role in the future of the program and how she saw her evolving as a player, Waugh said, “I think her confidence has grown a lot this year and it’s only going to help her down the road. She’s just a great kid who has the potential to be a very good leader on this team down the road as well and she’s always going to work hard.”