Stephanie Rovetti: Injury free and ready for another season

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Stephanie Rovetti is more than ready to take over the starting point guard position from longtime veteran Haley Steed for the upcoming season after suffering a season-ending injury last year.

Rovetti has been playing basketball her entire life and always dreamed of playing college basketball. With hard work, she excelled in the sport and was a McDonalds’ All-American nominee and Northern Nevada player of the year in high school. Known for her great ability to get to the basket, she was recruited by several universities but ultimately decided to play for BYU.

Stephanie Rovetti handles the ball against Southern Utah. Photo courtesy BYU Photo.
Stephanie Rovetti handles the ball against Southern Utah. (Photo courtesy BYU Photo)

“I was really excited to come here,” Rovetti said. “This is a really great program with a really great coaching staff.”

Rovetti went up for a normal layup during practice last year and came down funny on her left knee. Little did she know at the time, she had just torn some cartilage in that knee and would be unable to play the rest of the season. This happened just days before the Cougars’ first game of the season.

Despite having to sit out for the season, the injury gave Rovetti time to watch and learn from Steed. Steed graduated last year and is now part of the coaching staff. She was one of the best point guards BYU has ever had in its women’s basketball program. The time out on injury also gave Rovetti the opportunity to learn and appreciate head coach Jeff Judkin’s system. She feels the experience has made her a better player and has helped her understand the game in a whole new way.

“It definitely made me a better player; I think it made me more knowledgeable,” Rovetti said. “I was able to work on my shot a little bit more, and I was able to look at everything from a coach’s perspective, which is totally different from a player’s perspective.”

Fully healthy now, Rovetti faces one of the biggest challenges she has ever had to face in her basketball career: replacing Steed as the starting point guard. These are big shoes to fill, but Rovetti feels she is ready and up for the challenge.

“Point guard was such a strong position when (Steed) was playing it, and she was so successful at it,” Rovetti said. “I think that it’s pushed me to be a better player knowing that I just have to maintain what she has built up for this team.”

Rovetti is excited for the upcoming season and hopes to help her team win its conference. The Cougars will play their first game on Nov. 1 against Colorado Mesa University.

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