Newsday: Prahalis showing everyone her game is huge

BY ART SPANDER
Special to Newsday

BERKELEY,
Calif. -- If she had something to prove, as Sammy Prahalis believed she
did, it has been proven. At 5-7, she looks up to most of the women in
college basketball. Then again, as her first season draws to a close,
nobody symbolically looks down on Sammy.

"It doesn't affect me that much," Prahalis -- the former Commack star who now plays point guard for Ohio State -- said of her size. "I go out to play. But I guess, because I am the
smallest, I had something to prove because everyone else is so big."

Prahalis is the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and she and Big Ten
Player of the Year Jantel Lavender led Ohio State to victory in the
first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Prahalis had a career-high 23 points to go with seven assists in a
first-round victory over Sacred Heart. Ohio State met second-seeded
Stanford late last night in a regional semifinal.

Prahalis, a two-time Long Island Player of the Year and second-team Parade All-American, averaged 30.1
points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game as a senior for Commack
and finished with 2,373 points, second in Suffolk history. Now she has
become the quintessential point guard, making all the pieces fit for
Ohio State.

"Three times I've been in similar situations where freshmen were given the ball," said Jim Foster, who became the Buckeyes'
coach in 2003 after long stints at Vanderbilt and St. Joseph's. "In all
three situations, it was a byproduct of their intensity and how hard
they played.

"Samantha is an absolutely terrific athlete that
people enjoy watching play. She plays the same way at practice as she
does in games. There is no saving herself ... Size is just one aspect
of basketball. I think Samantha [may be] the smallest player on the
court, but I think people will enjoy watching her."

Foster
enjoys utilizing Prahalis' multiple skills. She led the Big Ten in
assists with 5.79 per game and was first in assist-turnover ratio,
seventh in steals and 23rd in scoring at 10.0 points per game.

"I definitely like fast-paced basketball," Prahalis said, and no one
who has seen her would ever argue with that. Her New York accent has
been quite noticeable in Ohio, too. "Yes," she said with a smile, "they
kid me about it."

Nobody chides Prahalis about her style:
aggressive and determined. College ball has been rewarding, especially
since Ohio State won the Big Ten championship.

"High intensity
and a lot of fun," Prahalis said of conference play, which culminated
in a 67-66 win over Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament final March 8.
"But that's what basketball has always been for me. Coming from
Commack, it has been a bit of a change, but not too much."

Prahalis has an attitude, a requisite for anyone who's in command. "You
have to play with one," she agreed when told that Stanford coach Tara
VanDerveer said she is "cocky, in a good way."

"You have to
play with a winning attitude," Prahalis said. "If we play with passion
and confidence, we will be just as good as any team."

Prahalis went up against Stanford freshman Nnemkadi Ogwumike last night. She was Prahalis' roommate last summer on the U.S. team that went 5-0 at the FIBA Championships in Argentina.

"I haven't talked to my teammates about her," Prahalis said of the 6-2
Ogwumike. "She is a really good player. She is long and can run and
very versatile."

For Prahalis, two out of three ain't bad. She
can run and is incredibly versatile. She ranked in virtually every team
statistical category except rebounds.

"It's always been in my head, 'Work hard,"' Prahalis said. "If you work out every day, it will all come out in the end."

No matter the final score of last night's game, it was only the beginning of Prahalis' college career.

"This is something I've been waiting for my entire life - to play in
the NCAAs," Prahalis had said before her first tournament game.

When you're not even 20, an entire life doesn't consist of all that
much - but in her case, it's a tease on how great she eventually can be. team that went 5-0 at the FIBA Championships in Argentina.

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