Ashley Owusu, now starring for Penn State, is making up for lost time

The clock is ticking on a collegiate career that had more twists and turns than a Hollywood thriller as Owusu returns to the place where it all began. Penn State on Sunday visits Maryland, where she arrived in 2019 as ESPN’s seventh-ranked freshman in the country. Owusu was named freshman of the year, all-Big Ten first team as a sophomore and a third-team all-American as a junior while winning the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the top shooting guard in the nation. That 2021-22 season ended in a Sweet 16 loss for the Terrapins as team chemistry deteriorated despite a stretch being ranked as high as No. 2 in the country.

Owusu decided it was time for a change.

“Kind of just looking for a fresh start,” Owusu said, “and just kind of looking for a coach, a coaching staff and a program that not only understood my team goals, what I wanted to achieve with my teammates and everything that’s around me, but also my personal goals.”

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Virginia Tech, in her home state, signed Owusu out of the transfer portal last season in what became a disastrous year. A broken finger suffered in December required surgery and she fell out of the rotation upon her return. Owusu logged double-digit minutes just three times afterward and didn’t play at all in the postseason as the Hokies advanced to the Final Four. Virginia Tech Coach Kenny Brooks insisted the decision was based on how the team was playing, but the lack of playing time remained a curious situation that spilled over onto social media, as teammates, former teammates and Owusu’s father all commented online. Brooks told the Roanoke Times that the injury caused Owusu to miss critical development time and that she wasn’t able to get “incorporated into what we were doing.”

Transfers are commonplace in today’s NCAA. Even multiple transfers by the same player in consecutive years isn’t strange anymore. To have a former all-American who was named the best shooting guard in the country not even get off the bench was an oddity that still remains unclear. The Virginia Tech experiment ended after the team’s Final Four loss and Owusu was back looking for a new home. Yet things still weren’t smooth after she headed to Happy Valley.

Owusu worked closely with WNBA guard Natisha Hiedeman, who is an assistant on the Penn State staff, but the school said a health issue kept her from making her debut until Jan. 14. When it came, she poured in 18 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

“A little, ‘I’m back’ game,” Hiedeman said with a laugh.

Ten games in, Owusu is averaging career highs in points (18.5) and rebounds (6.3) while handing out 4.2 assists per game. Her focus has been on getting back a feel for the game while learning the new system and new teammates. Penn State has lost four in a row, but Owusu is looking more like the player that shined in College Park.

“She’s doing what you would expect a fifth year to do,” Maryland Coach Brenda Frese said. “She’s got that kind of experience, so she’s leading her team. She’s always been a talented player. She can score, she can distribute. She’s a tough matchup for anyone. She’s really tried to put her team on her back, like you would expect with a grad senior.”

Sunday won’t be her debut against her former team. Maryland had its most disappointing loss of the season when it was trounced, 112-76, late last month in State College. Shyanne Sellers suffered a knee injury in that game and played just nine minutes.

Brinae Alexander acknowledged it was an emotional game playing against Owusu, and she expects it to be again as the Terps need every win they can muster as they sit on the bubble to make the NCAA tournament.

“It’ll mean a lot to them as well for, for them as a team, knowing that Ashley used to play here,” Alexander said, “and playing for her and playing against Coach [Frese]. I think it will be high emotions all around.”

Nothing has been particularly easy in these past two years, Owusu acknowledged. The basketball court is her safe haven, the place where she’s comfortable and confident. But after that was lost for a while, building it back up has been a process. And time is running out on catching the eyes of WNBA coaches and front offices. Owusu recently talked to former teammate Diamond Miller, and it really hit her that the finish line is rapidly approaching.

Owusu has been working on being more vocal, something Hiedeman has stressed knowing that’s a necessity for point guards in the pros. She also said her tribulations have helped her improve from a mental standpoint, learning how to overcome the unexpected and outlast the tough times.

“Playing in the WNBA has been a goal mine since I was 6 years old,” she said. “And everyone goes through stuff. I think it’s what you do after you go through that, is what [defines] you as a person. Obviously it’s easier said than done. I had good and bad days, but just staying positive and just staying focused on my goal. and also just allowing the love from my parents, friends, stuff like that to fill me and just keep my head down and working.”