Player Review: The Rest – The Slipper Still Fits

As I highlighted in my article reviewing the success of this past year’s team, this was a special group of players. So many records were set by the team and its individuals that it can be hard to truly appreciate it in the moment. While i’ve covered six such players in individual articles, I don’t think I’ve got enough writing chops or talking points to truly give the remaining players their own article, which just didn’t feel right. So I wanted to craft this article as a letter of appreciation

Calli Stokes

Hailing from Southern California, Calli had a successful high school career that saw her earn All-State 1st team for three out of her four years [the exception being 2020 when I assume such selection was not made] and average 21 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3.5 steals her senior year. Not only that, the 5’11” guard was also able to land on the Presidential Honor Roll for all four years of high school.

So while Stokes had the pedigree upon enter Gonzaga, she was facing some stiff competition from players like the Truongs, Brynna Maxwell and McKayla Williams so she ended redshirting the ‘21-22 season. The following season, Calli broke into the lineup as the first guard/wing off the bench following Kayleigh Truong’s injury. In the ‘22-’23 campaign, Stokes averaged 18.4 minutes, 3.7 points and 3.7 rebounds which propelled her onto the All WCC Freshman Team.

Entering the ‘23-24 season, Calli was likely expected to play the bulk of the minutes as the first guard off the bench and that’s exactly what she did. Her average numbers for minutes (18.8), points (3.9), and rebounds (3.6) didn’t change much but I think she played a much larger impact when on the floor. While she shot less this season, her efficiency improved quite notably with her overall numbers jumping from 41.4% to 44.4%, two pointers increasing from 46.3% to 50.8%, and three pointers 12.5% to 28%. She was also a better facilitator and ball handler as she improved her assists from 0.8 to 1.3 per game with only a slight increase in her turnovers, 0.7 to 0.8 per game.

To me, Calli’s most impressive role on this was her defense. As I’ve mentioned before, defensive statistics are not tracked particularly well so a jump in steals from 0.5 to 0.8 and blocks 0 to 0.2 may not look like much, but to me, it represents a huge bump since those stats are so hard to accrue since playing good team defense that ends up creating a steal or block for someone else will not be reflected on your boxscore. I also recall seeing Fortier bring Stokes off the bench and take the primary defender assignment where she would grind it out with 100% commitment. I liked watching her play.

When looking back in retrospect, the additional year of eligibility for players impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic clearly benefitted the Gonzaga team this season, but I can’t help but think that in some ways it harmed Calli’s prospects for this season. With so many fourth year players exercising this extra year for the ‘23-24 campaign, Stokes was unfortunately placed in situation where access to regular minutes was going to be tough, which ended up being the case. While she would have had a clear pathway to playing time for the upcoming season, Calli instead transferred out of Gonzaga and looks to be trying to pursue track & field instead of basketball according to The Next Hoops. This doesn’t necessarily seem to be a case of player being upset with the program, but rather a major shift in someone’s goals, which in Stokes’ case could have been related to the concussion she suffered late in the season that prevented her from playing in the post-season.

While it’s sad that Calli is departing the program, I wish for her nothing but the best and if anybody finds out where she went, please update me so I can try to follow her new journey.

Payton Muma

After a redshirt freshman season that saw the true point guard feature in 30 games for an average 7.6 minutes per contest, the ‘23-24 season must have been a rough one for Payton as she featured in just 3 games, all in November and was often seen in street clothes on the bench. I’m not totally sure why Muma failed to see the court much this season as I don’t recall her ever being injured, but I’m assuming some of that has to do with the lack of injuries limiting Truongs.

I liked what I saw from Muma in her brief moments this season as she seemed to have good agility and ball handling with above average court vision. In her 7 minutes, season high, against Liberty, Payton dished out 2 assists, nabbed 2 steals, and grabbed a rebound. While the upcoming season could have been a chance for her to grab some more minutes and potentially a spot in the starting lineup, Payton unfortunately elected to transfer to the University of Wyoming following the ‘23-24 season.

I wish her the best of luck and having done my residency in Wyoming, I have a soft spot for the Pokes so I’m definitely going to follow her performance both on, and off, the court as she has a youtube vlog that shows off her shenanigans. Her last post is a girls trip to Palm Springs with her mom and sister that features some pretty awesome karaoke.

Claire O’Connor

I covered Claire’s high school pedigree in this fanpost from just before this season’s kick-off so check it out there if you’re interested. Hailing from Bellevue, WA, O’Connor had some pretty impressive scoring numbers in high school, but was going to have a heck of a time getting minutes on this year’s stacked roster in her freshman season and might possibly redshirt.

Instead, Claire basically took over the role Payton Muma had last year as the important, but rarely used second/third guard off the bench. She played in 30 games averaging 5.9 minutes per match during which time she 1.2 points, 0.9 rebounds, 0.1 assists, 0.1 steals, 0.1 steals, and 0.4 turnovers while shooting 44.4% from two and 31.3% from three.

Those are, admittedly, not great numbers, but I think that Claire grew a lot as the season progressed and she must’ve been posting some good training session results given that she averaged 8 minutes per game from February onward, even playing 12 minutes in the Round of 64 game against UC Irvine. I’m excited to watch Claire develop this coming year and I think getting some action on the floor could be really important for her development given the roster turnover at the end of this season.

Bree Salenbien

Gonzaga’s highest ever recruit has not been able to catch a break in her three seasons in Spokane. In her first year, ‘21-22, Bree was cruising right along as she was averaging just under 9 minutes per game and even dropped 14 points against Pacific. Then she suffered a right ACL tear during the team’s practice in February that took her out for the remainder of the season as well as the ‘22-23 season. This wasn’t the first time that Bree had injured her right knee as she also tore that ACL in her junior year of high school so her recovery process was going to be slow and deliberate.

Heading into the ‘23-24 season, Bree still wasn’t ready for action until late December when she made her first return to the court in 22 months against New Mexico where she played 12 minutes some expected rust, but a certain dynamism that we weren’t really seeing from Claire or Calli. Fast forward six weeks and Salenbien had played in 13 games and was averaging 13 minutes, 3.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 1.8 turnovers. Sure, not particularly impressive numbers and not necessarily the most efficient shooting percentages, but there looked to be a pathway where we would see Bree playing in the big moments to spell the Truongs or help with additional ball handling responsibilities in applicable situations.

Unfortunately, we wouldn’t see Bree for another couple weeks before it was announced that she had suffered a third ACL tear in her right knee and would be out for the foreseeable future. A twitter post from the GU WBB account from Bree stated that “she was still processing what this means for [her] and [her] basketball career…”. Whatever decision Salenbien makes regarding her athletic future, she’ll always be a player that I will root for.

Esther Little

The 6’2” junior wing from Ipswich, England brings a defensive-first style of ball that is much needed and totally unique for this team. This past season, the Brit scored just 19 points, but pulled down 81 rebounds, handed out 24 assists, and combined for 18 steals and blocks. She might have looked away open baskets, shot air balls, and been a bit of liability on offense this year, but Esther always brought commitment and intensity each time she stepped on the floor. Entering her senior year, Esther could potentially be leaned for a larger role for this team in flux and I’m hoping that she takes the opportunity and runs.

Naya Ojukwu

A highly touted prospect from Idaho, Naya transferred to Gonzaga after redshirting her first year at Utah due to injury. After playing in the first 9 of 13 games of the season, I was pretty high on Naya’s athleticism and high motor despite some of her youthful inexperience. However, after the game against South Dakota State on 12/17, in which she played a season high and added 2 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists, she never feature in another game for the Bulldogs in the ‘23-24 season.

Writing for this site and covering the Women’s team exclusively has opened my eyes to the absolutely dismal level of journalistic coverage this side of the sport receives. How can a highly touted recruit like Naya just up and disappear from her team and no one has any scoop or report on it? In the end, Naya Ojukwu ended up taking a leave of absence from the team at an unspecified time and eventually transfer out at the completion of the season. I cannot find any reports on where she has landed, but I hope that she finds her pathway forward, either with basketball, another sport, or just life.

Destiny Burton

And last but not least, graduating senior Destiny Burton. The 6’3” forward was raised in Texas and played her first two years of collegiate ball at Panola College in her home state before transferring to Gonzaga in the ‘22-23 season.

In her first year at GU, Destiny played a modest role for this team after Maud Hujibens missed time with an injury. She played 10.5 minutes per game and brought a stout and determined force in the paint which lead to her year average of 1.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.5 assists.

With Yvonne Ejim’s development and court production exploding, Destiny was always going to have a tough time seeing the floor this year and that was exacerbated by her picking up a knee injury at an unspecified time that kept her out until the game against New Mexico in late December that also saw Bree Salenbien make her debut. She would end up playing a lesser role on this season’s team as she averaged 8.1 minutes per game, but she improved her scoring to 2.6 points per game, maintained her rebounding numbers, and shot the ball much better with an overall field goal percentage of 52.8% compared to 46.5% the year prior. Burton had her best game against Pepperdine in early February when she played 17 minutes and contributed 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists with no turnovers.

It was awesome to see Destiny draw the start against Portland in the last game of the regular season for Senior Day. Those are truly special moments that I hope Burton will cherish. I think I can speak for most fans when I wish her a fruitful career in her next steps.

I’m going to start pivoting from my review of the ‘23-24 season and start covering some of the news relating to the ‘24-25 season including new recruits, transfers, and general news. If you guys hear of anything going on, hit me up on twitter.