<p>Barbara Stevens recruited Ella Thompson to Bentley University with the intention that sooner or later, the Center Grove graduate would become her starting point guard.</p>
<p>With her team having stumbled out to a somewhat disappointing 2-2 start, Stevens decided it was time.</p>
<p>The legendary coach put the freshman into her first five, and the Falcons have been soaring ever since.</p>
<p>Thompson, who shared Daily Journal Player of the Year honors with former Trojan teammate Emma Utterback last winter, has helped right the ship for perennial Division II power Bentley, which heads into Saturday’s home game against sixth-ranked Saint Anselm having won five straight and seven of eight since Thompson became a starter.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]
<p>"Ella is definitely more of an attack-oriented point guard, and she’s led our break, our transition very well," Stevens said. "She’ll push the ball up the court, she can get to the rim, she can hit the 3, so she obviously has a multifaceted skill set. We felt that it was going to be a matter of time before we inserted her in the lineup, but just wanted to be sure that she had had a chance to actually get her feet under her and become a little bit more comfortable running our team."</p>
<p>That Thompson has enjoyed early success shouldn’t be all that surprising — the 5-foot-7 guard cast aside multiple Division I offers to play for Stevens, who ranks fourth all-time among women’s basketball coaches with 1,048 career wins.</p>
<p>Only Hall of Famers Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer and Geno Auriemma have more.</p>
<p>"It’s honestly been an honor to play under her," Thompson said of Stevens. "She has so much knowledge of the game, and just what she brings, it’s just been awesome playing for her. Just a few months, she’s taught me so much about the game of basketball, so it’s been pretty amazing to be able to play for her."</p>
<p>Thompson’s impact in the starting lineup was immediate — she contributed 17 points, four assists and two steals in a blowout win over Queens on Nov. 23, and her production across the board has nearly doubled since she joined the starting group for that game. She’s up to 7.8 points and 3.4 assists per game overall.</p>
<p>For her part, Thompson says she doesn’t care whether she’s starting or coming off the bench; her focus in either case is to do whatever she can to help the Falcons continue their winning tradition. She did note that the high-level competition she faced while playing for Center Grove and for her Indy Flight AAU team allowed her to adjust quickly to the college game.</p>
<p>"I think playing in the MIC and playing the schedule we played in AAU definitely really helped me with this transition," Thompson said. "From a speed of play standpoint, it’s not much different at all."</p>
<p>Neither are the expectations. Thompson helped the Trojans claim three county titles and three sectionals during her high school career, and one of the reasons she decided to head east to Bentley (located in the Boston suburb of Waltham, Massachusetts) was the desire to play for another winner.</p>
<p>She’s confident that despite the early-season hiccups, her current team will end up being just that.</p>
<p>"Early on, we were still trying to figure out how to play with each other," Thompson said, "but I think those games and the schedule we played are really going to help us in terms of finishing out conference strong and hopefully making a run in the NCAA tournament."</p>
<p>Deep tourney runs are nothing new for Bentley under Stevens. The Falcons won the Division II national championship in 2014 and have reached the NCAA quarterfinals 14 times and made 10 semifinal appearances since 1989.</p>
<p>The coach sees similar success on the horizon with Thompson steering the ship.</p>
<p>"I think the ceiling is extremely high. I think that she’s a talented person and she’s learning every day," Stevens said. "She’s got confidence, but like all young women this age, sometimes confidence can be a little bit shaky if things don’t go well, and we’re kind of letting her play through those things and letting her know that we believe in her and we’re sticking with her.</p>
<p>"She’s tough. She’s very tough inside, and she’s not going to let anything get in her way. She’s not going to back down from anybody, and that’s what we like about her so much."</p>
