Perez St. John's Bound

Ashley Perez, the two-time CIAC Class LL All-State guard, is accustomed to making time on the basketball court far from fun for her Manchester High School opponents. Now she has taken away some fun for her fans.

Perez, the Indians all-time leading scorer, has made her college choice. The fun over guessing where she’ll wind up is over before it could really build up.

Perez will enroll a year from now at St. John’s University, whose rivalry with UConn in the Big East is growing. So instead of waiting until November to announce her decision, similar to most standout high school players throughout the country, or waiting to late winter/early spring, as is the case for most high school seniors who don’t play sports, the drama over when she’d make her decision and the identity of her collegiate destination has ended.

Perez called St. John’s coach Kim Arrico with the big news on Aug. 30. Four days earlier, the Red Storm athletic department informed Perez – whose mending ankle is nearly 95 percent healed, she says­ – that it would be offering her a scholarship to attend St. John’s and play basketball. Perez and her family mulled it over for several days, then moved forward.

UConn was never a viable option for her, she said.

When Perez, a shooting guard, begins her college career in November 2012, there will be two senior guards on the team and two junior guards. She will receive considerable playing time at St. John's, if healthy, though no one is expecting her to be a starter as a freshman. Arrico often uses a three-guard line-up.

“I’m very happy with my decision. I’m positive I made the right decision,” said Perez, who cited her opinion of the coach, the opportunity to play in the Big East and the feel of the campus in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y., as reasons why she chose St. John’s.

“It’s more of a relief that I feel happy with my decision,” said Perez, whose off-season training routine of weight-lifting and running has impressed her coach, John Reiser, and Manchester Athletic Director Lindsey Boutilier. “Everyone is really happy for me, and that’s good to know.”

Perez, who averaged 24.3 points per game last winter, has scored a school record 1,436 points, moving past previous record-holder Raenielle DeCastro-Cain on Feb. 20. For most of the season, the Indians were one of the top five teams in the state. But by season’s end, CCC North foe Glastonbury had solved Manchester (22-3) and eliminated the Indians in the Class LL quarterfinals.

The Indians have lost no players to graduation. Perez, clearly not the lone talented player on the team, will be the focal point for Manchester’s offense and opposing defenses. The 2011-12 season easily has the potential to be special.

“To score that many points with all the attention she gets is remarkable,” Reiser said about opponents’ defensive plans for Perez, who first tied the single-game scoring record (38 points) as a freshman. Teams routinely assign two players to cover her and devise special defensive packages to try to contain her. Those attempts rarely work. “She still gets 30 points, and that I’ve never seen," said Reiser. 

“You’ve got to cover her once she gets to half court because she can pull up from anywhere,” Reiser continued. “What’s unique about Ashley is her ability to shoot the ball. Her range is unlimited – from long range to mid range.”

Reiser is reluctant to compare Perez with the other handful of elite players he’s coached in his 10 years at Manchester. He isn’t saying she’s the best of the best at this point, particularly with one full season to go for Perez, the state’s leading scorer in 2010-11. But he is able to say she shares in all the qualities of the best he’s coached. None of those players, though, could bring to their games all that Perez has been able to do. Perez supplies assists, rebounds, steals and blocks, too. So in completeness of skill set and approach, she has no peer.

Perez combines her outstanding shooting ability with leadership, toughness and uncompromising work ethic. “She plays hard, she has that passion and drive and the knack to score points,” Reiser said.

Boutilier hasn’t spoken at length with Perez since the start of school, though he was able to offer his congratulations. “We’re all proud of her in a way,” Boutilier said. “She’s phenomenal. She plays the entire game at full speed. Her off-season [work] allows her to play that way."

Boutilier acknowledged there will be a ceremony honoring her most likely before the season but could not say when at this time. “We will recognize her publicly,” he said.