NorthJersey.com

Angelica Do could be all about numbers, like more than 1,500 points and nearly 1,000 rebounds in just over three years of varsity play.

But while those numbers say a lot about about the Leonia senior, they aren’t her best attribute, at least according to Leonia girls basketball coach Joe Prenenski.

“The best part of her game is her mental toughness,” Prenenski said. “She has such grit and determination and she forces you to play the way she wants.”

Do became the North Jersey Female Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS, because of that toughness, not necessarily because of her offensive prowess or even her ferocious defense and rebounding.

In fact, Prenenski remembers her freshman year at the high school, coming into play with a defensive mentality and seemingly not caring much about offense at all.

“She had a defensive mindset that she brought with her into school and then used her athleticism to develop into a five-tool player and could do everything,” he said.

Do doesn’t disagree.

“I think I started playing basketball for my church team in the third grade and got serious about rec league in basketball and soccer in the sixth grade and added running in the eighth grade,” she said. “I started for the joy of playing with my friends and that never seemed to change.

“I love doing stuff, and being active in sports was the way for me to do all of that.”

Soccer was her first love, although she started basketball a little earlier and was good enough to make all-division all four years in high school playing forward. Ironically, an injury to her right knee during her sophomore basketball season brought out her love for hoops, leading to her playing the second half of her sophomore basketball season and the entire spring track season with a medial meniscal tear before having the surgery and rehab she needed. (Talk about mentally tough.)

“I was able to deal with it and I didn’t want to stop playing or running,” she said. “I just put on knee pads or a brace, used heating pads and acupuncture and got through it until the year was over.”

Surgery followed and by junior soccer season, Do, making sure she got plenty of sleep, did plenty of stretching and spent plenty of time in the gym, was fine and continued her brilliant career.

“I want to push myself and see what I can do,” she said, looking to this season, which after realignment gives the Lions its most challenging schedule of her four years at the school. “I want to see what we can do in a harder league and if we can keep winning.”

While Prenenski thinks mental toughness is Do’s biggest strength, she thinks it’s the work she does that doesn’t necessarily reflect itself in the box score, “The little things like boxing out or getting in a passing lane and the adrenalin rush I get every time I get a steal and an open path to the basket.”

And while she has a great chance to break the school record of 1,853 points scored by 1991 graduate Christine Powers, who went on to play at St. Bonaventure University, you get the strong feeling that wins and losses are the real numbers that drive Angelica Do.

To date, Leonia is 54-26 since Do joined the team as a starter four years ago. In the 13 prior seasons since she was born, Leonia had won only 63 total games.

“I want to thank my coaches, family, friends and teammates for pushing me and supporting me throughout this entire journey,” said Do, who hopes to play in college and even hopes to train and coach people after she finishes her college career. “If I hadn’t played on teams, I never could have done what I’ve able to do and be my own person.”

Angelica Do

Sport: Basketball

School: Leonia

Class: Senior. Age: 17

Accomplishment: Do earned her second Athlete of the Week honor by scoring 44 points and grabbing 20 rebounds in two Leonia wins.