Jefferson is a powerhouse by committee. But playing the role of chairperson? Meet Sam Yencha

Consider the last time you had downtime. Maybe you watched a movie, or spent time with friends. Perhaps you went to the gym or studied extra for an exam.

The question is never whether you actually have the downtime, the question is: What do you do with that downtime? Do you kick back and relax, or do you make the most of it?

For Sam Yencha, a guard on the Jefferson women’s basketball team, the answer for what to do in her free time is simple: She plays basketball.

“When the season’s over, she goes and plays pickup,” coach Tom Shirley said. “She’ll play because she wants to play and she likes to play. It’s not a chore for her. It’s just fun.”

All that hooping has been paying off, too. The 5-foot-11 junior leads the Rams, averaging 17.2 points and 11.6 rebounds, helping to contribute to her team’s 16-1 record, including 6-0 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

But Yencha is no stranger to the spotlight. As a sophomore, she averaged 11.1 points, recorded 16 double-doubles, and was named to the all-conference team.

But it’s a small feat compared to what she is doing now.

So how does Yencha do it?

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Again the answer is simple: work ethic.

“She works hard with us, but she also works hard without us,” Shirley said. “She’s multifaceted, she can handle the ball, her rebounds are terrific, she improved her post play and jump shot. Put that all together, and you have a better sense” of her work ethic.

At the NCAA’s Division II, rules permit college coaches to spend a maximum of eight hours per week with their players in the offseason, and Shirley is big on the concept of rest. But Yencha doesn’t agree. For her, basketball is a 12-month job.

“I worked on my athletic ability, jump shot, and conditioning [in the offseason],” Yencha said. “I did it all individually.”

It’s that mentality that led Shirley to recruit Yencha in the first place.

“When you recruit, you’re looking for someone that you think will fit the system that you play,” Shirley said. “You want them to be a good person, not struggle academically ... and Sam checks all those boxes, so we brought her in.”

Yencha’s efforts in the offseason are impressive, but with a team that’s unbeaten, she doesn’t do it all alone on the court, of course.

“You always want to have a standout player,” Shirley said. “But when you look at it, we had four kids last year make all-conference, and none of them were seniors.”

Senior Haley Meinel averages 15.8 points per game with an impressive 70 steals this season. Last season, Meinel was named the CACC’s defensive player of the year and women’s player of the year.

Close behind is junior Cassie Murphy, who is averaging 15.1 points and 7.1 rebounds and notched her 1,000th point this season, as well as Morgan Robinson, who chips in with 8.4 points and 6.1 rebounds.

“[They] all bring something different to the table,” Shirley said. “When you’re a coach that has four different people that can help you in four different ways, that’s pretty special.”

“If you try to stop one of us,” Yencha said, “then the other person is just going to go off. There are multiple people that can score more than 10 points in the game, so it makes us a really tough team to try to stop.”

Last season Jefferson went 28-5, making it to the CACC semifinals and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Tournament with Meinel leading the way, averaging 15.7 points.

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Now, between Yencha stepping up as an upperclassman and the contributions from Jefferson’s other top players, the Rams are set on both ends of the floor this season. Jefferson next plays on Saturday at home against Post University of Waterbury, Conn.,

“We just have I think we have all the basketball basics covered between those four players,” Shirley said. “And what sets Sam apart [from the others] is that you look at her at the moment when you need someone to make the shot.”