Watching her family members shoot hoops when she was a little girl, junior Maya Deshautelle was basically born to play.
“I feel like in my family it was a given because both my parents played in college,” Deshautelle said. “My mom played D1, then my brother played in college at D3, so I was born into it, and I wanted to do whatever my older brother did.”
While most people love basketball for its fast-paced, high-energy action, Deshautelle’s favorite part of the sport is how it continually evolves.
“I keep learning more about [basketball] and it’s always changing,” Deshautelle said. “I think, especially in the women’s game, it’s just evolving so much recently that you’re always getting to play against someone better than you, and that’s what makes you better. I think that’s really fun.”
Aside from her brother, some players Deshautelle looks up to are Sabrina Ionescu, an American professional girl basketball player for the New York Liberty, and Cameron Brink, another American professional girl basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks.
“My personal role model would be my older brother but for players, I love Sabrina Ionescu and Cameron Brink,” Deshautelle said. “I grew up watching them because they were in the era when I started watching the WNBA. So Sabrina, I watched her in college and then Cameron Brink, I’m a huge Stanford fan, so I watched her play there. Watching them grow the WNBA has been huge.”
When she is on the hardwood, the best parts of her games are consistently her hustles.
“I would say my hustle,” Deshautelle said. “I try to leave it all out there and go for loose balls or for rebounds and rely on a motor out there. I think a lot of effort goes into the way I play.”
However, like any good athlete, Deshautelle recognizes areas that need improvement.
“I like my shots, [three-point game and outside shots] to be better,” Deshautelle said. “You can always be a better shooter.”
To push herself to be a great athlete, Deshautelle follows a practice routine to train all the necessary muscles needed for offensive and defensive abilities.
“I lift a couple days a week, but I’m biased towards upper body, but I have to do both upper body and lower body. Then, I shoot every day and work on new moves that I’m trying to implement into my game and repetitive stuff: driving, footwork moves and shooting over and over to try and improve my outside game.”
In the footsteps of her family, she wants to pursue basketball in college but also academics as well.
“It’s always been my dream to play in college and that’s the plan,” Deshautelle said. “I really like the Ivies, just any division one school because I want to go to a high academic program where I can also play basketball. I value [academics] because I know you have to rely on your career in academics after basketball ends because that’s inevitable. [I’m] taking classes that challenge me to be better.”
Through her dedication and consistent practices, Deshautelle was recently selected as MVP for the Coastal Canyon League. She attributes the honor to her supportive team.
“I was honestly pretty surprised when I read it, but I was really grateful and it’s exciting to see that your work pays off,” Deshautelle said. “I thought it was really cool and [it] helps our team build a good reputation for the league and it’s mostly because of my teammates.”
With the struggles of few players on the team last year, Deshautelle is proud of how the team has succeeded with the influx of new players.
“Last year, there were only 6 people on the team,” Deshautelle said. “It’s definitely been a big adjustment because it’s a completely new team, but it’s a new challenge for us and getting to know the new personalities and then building that into meshing all of our play styles. I think it’s been really fun and having more people we’ve been able to play against each other in practice, which is new, and I think that’s really fun because we just make each other better when we get to play against each other every day.
Her teammate, senior Joely Chadwick, was extremely impressed by her commitment to the team this past season and adaptability despite the low number of players.
“She adapted to the challenge really well and took a leadership role,” Chadwick said. “She helped bring the team together last season, something that she’s not necessarily used to, but I think she stepped into that role very well.”
As Deshautelle approaches senior year, she has one goal in mind for the OPHS girls basketball team.
“I would love to win another championship as a team,” Deshautelle said. “We won my freshman and sophomore year. I love to win as much as possible, win another league title, and I think the goal is always to win a CIF title, maybe state.”
