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On the road earlier this season against Binghamton University, Stella Johnson drove to the hoop in the fourth quarter with the Broncs up by two. Scoring in traffic, Johnson added to the women's basketball team's lead while recording her 1,0000th career point, an admirable feat considering she is still in her junior year.

On March 8, before the women's basketball team took the court for the MAAC Tournament Quarterfinals, Johnson was named the 2019 MAAC Player of the Year. She is the second Bronc in the last three years and the second player in program history to be honored as the MAAC Player.

"We are incredibly proud of Stella for this amazing accomplishment," ������ý���� Head Coach Lynn Milligan says. "She is as competitive as they come and is willing to do what it takes for her team to win. A true sign of a great player is making others around you better. Stella does that every day."

Over the first dozen games this season Johnson helped her team to one of its best starts in conference history. Off the court, Johnson has earned an impressive 3.55 GPA while balancing the demanding schedule of a Division I athlete — an average of 20 hours each week is spent in practices and games during the season — with the responsibilities of a typical college student.

It’s this sense of discipline that has led her role to evolve from a quiet player during her freshman year to a respected team leader now in her junior year.

“Stella has a quiet confidence about who she is and how hard she is willing to work for her goals,” says Milligan. “She was, and is, a leader by example.”

Johnson credits her transformation at ������ý���� to her support system, both at home (her parents attend every game) and at school. She says she learned to develop good study habits by modeling the habits of the older players on her team, and, through her friendship with one of her freshman roommates, a student from Switzerland, she has traveled twice to Europe.

“When I came to ������ý����, it started to become clearer as to what I wanted to achieve and who I wanted to be,” says the team captain and sports media major in ������ý����'s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “I stopped saying, ‘I don’t know,’ when people asked what I wanted to do when I got older.”

Now this student-athlete’s vision is clear. With her sights set on joining the WNBA or playing overseas after college, she is sure to add even more records to her resume.