If Schroeder keeps up her scoring pace — she’s averaging 26.5 points per game this season, tops in the nation — she would set the national mark in the first game of the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) tournament.
The 6-foot forward out of Carroll High School is averaging 26.2 over her 58-game career, That eclipses the mark for all-time career average – 25.8 – held by Meleena Edwards of Mercer County C.C. of New Jersey, also set from 1996-98.
Schroeder has run up those impressive totals shooting threes, mid-range jumpers, put backs and free throws, where her 85.7 percent accuracy is third in all of Division II.
And then there was that one big slam dunk.
Opposing teams have tried to derail her with a variety of schemes: box and one, various zones, nonstop face guarding, you name it.
But one rival thought the best way to stop her was to offend her, not defend her.
“This one girl just called me stupid,” said with a shrug, then a smile after practice the other day. “She said, ‘You’re not going to get double digits on us today. You’re just stupid!’
“She was just trying to get me angry. And finally I said, ‘Yeah, well what’s your GPA?’ I knew mine was going to be higher than hers.”
While Schroeder sets high marks on the court, she does even better in the classroom.
She’s been on the Dean’s List since she came to Sinclair. Last basketball season – as a dental hygiene major – she had a 3.9 GPA. This semester, she said she currently has all A’s. Overall she’s just above a 3.6.
So Saturday, when she walks onto the court with her parents as she’s honored at Sophomore Day, she’ll know she’s gotten all she could out of her community college experience.
“I love Sinclair,” she said. “It’s been a great fit. The teachers really get to know you and they care about you. The credits you earn here all transfer and the basketball has provided me with lots of opportunities.”
One came last week when Ohio Dominican offered her a scholarship.
Several other colleges are courting her as well, but she said she’ll wait to take any more college visits until after the Sinclair season ends.
“My focus, same as it is for my teammates, is the tournament,” she said. “I think we have a chance of going far.”
The Tartan Pride are 23-4. They only have seven players, one of whom – Sarah Bettinger – they recruited from the volleyball team at midseason.
But along with Schroeder there are some veteran players in point guard Kierre James – whose 22.7 average in eighth best in the nation – and Keeara “Kiki” Nared, who is averaging 11.3.
“This season you can’t really put all your focus on Amanda because James could light you up for 30 or 40 or Keeara Nared might hit you with 25,” said Sinclair coach Trendale Perkins.
“If you do put too much attention on Amanda, she’s a smart kid and she’s gonna give the ball up if she’s not open. She’s got other girls around her who can score. So it’s pick your poison at this point.”
Perkins said one of the most remarkable things is that Schroeder “hadn’t really shot any threes when she was at Carroll. She was a post player there. She played inside.
“But when she came to us ,she knew we already had two posts (Madison Connally-Banks now plays at Grambling State and Aaryan Evans at Central State) but we always want to put our best five players on the floor. That meant we’d probably move Amanda to the wing, so she came in and just worked on her three-point shooting.”
She also worked on her own at Carroll and other gyms around town.
The result?
She’s made 128 threes in her two seasons at Sinclair and is shooting 37.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Schroeder said she had to completely overhaul he game when she got to Sinclair:
“Moving out to the wing, I had to get quicker. I had to learn how to shoot the ball out there and dribble and guard smaller players. That was the hardest. In high school I just guarded pots players.”
Perkins said she made the transition because “she’s pretty smart. She’s got a high basketball IQ and she also works very hard. When shoot rounds are optional, she’s one of the first kids in the gym. I always believe when you put in the work the results will come. And with her they certainly did.”
Yet, she’s still can be a force inside, too. With Connally-Banks and Evans gradated, she had to devote more interest to the boards and currently averages 11.5 rebounds a game, 22nd best om the nation.
But just like her counterpart on the Sinclair men’s team — the much sought after Sean McNeill, who was just named the National Player of the Week and leads the (Division II) nation in scoring at 29.6 – Schroeder is best known for putting the ball in the hoop.
Which brings us back to that taunter, the one who kept calling her stupid, the one who said she wouldn’t reach double digits that game.
Schroeder got 25 points that game.
She made 9 of her 11 field goal attempts and hit 6 of 7 free throws.
She said the rival got her fired up.
Not too smart.
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