University of North Carolina Athletics
Out of the Blue: Stephanie Mavunga
October 30, 2014 | Women's Basketball
By Ben Brown
HEADLINE: Out of the Blue: Stephanie Mavunga
By Ben Brown
Stephanie Mavunga owned the paint in her freshman season at Carolina. As a sophomore, she's looking to help Carolina improve upon last year's Elite Eight appearance.
Ben Brown: What's the most exciting thing about the first game of the season?
Stephanie Mavunga: “It's just a fresh start, getting into the groove of things and getting to play with the girls again. It's exciting to get to play against another team rather than practicing against ourselves. It's fun bringing everything we worked on in the offseason out to the court.”
What did you miss the most about not having Coach Hatchell around last season?
SM: “Personally, I think the thing I missed the most was having her positivity around, and just her supportiveness and motherly feeling was what I missed the most.
What was the experience like when you won gold with the 16U National Team?
SM: “Winning the gold medal was one of the best experiences of my life and one of the biggest things I've ever accomplished in my basketball career. It was really fun because we had a great group of girls who were from all over the place, and girls I play against in college now.
Do you have a favorite blocked shot that you've had in your career?
SM: “My favorite block was probably against Syracuse last year. I don't recall who the player was, but I remember it gave me a technical, which was the first technical I had ever gotten in my life. It was a drive toward the baseline and I was just trotting and I was just thinking 'Oh OK, I'm going to get this block.' So I was following the girl and I got the block, and then I was really excited and I showed a lot of emotion and it turned into taunting from the ref's perspective. So I'd say that was my favorite blocked shot of last season (laughing).”
What aspect of your game did you improve the most this offseason?
SM: “My jump shot is what they've said so far. I've been knocking down shots that I wasn't making last year. I'm really finding my niche with it and I can really step out some from the right range and I'm more consistent shooting than I was last year. Not quite where I want to be yet, but I'm getting there.”
I saw that you were born in Zimbabwe and then your family moved here. Tell me about what that process was like.
SM: “That was a little bit of a different process. My father moved to the United States originally before my mother, brothers and I followed. He just really wanted to make sure that we were somewhere secure, so he went ahead and came here a couple years before us and moved in with my uncle and his family, and he got a job and really got on his feet. Then we were still in Zimbabwe and then my dad got his own apartment in Boston and then moved to Indiana. Then after a couple of years after he felt settled down we moved to U.S.”
Why did your family leave Zimbabwe?
SM: “We left Zimbabwe for better academic opportunities for me and my brothers. My parents were always really big on education and are really educated themselves, so we just really wanted better opportunities. My parents had really good jobs and everything was going well in Zimbabwe, but we just felt we could do more with an education here and that we could really excel and use the tools here to better us.”
