(Photo: Brooke Faber/WCSN)
Sabrina Haines has come a long way from when she started playing basketball at the age of 6.
“My parents were tired of me having so much energy,” said Arizona State freshman guard Sabrina Haines, on why she began playing basketball. That’s when she discovered her love for the sport.
“I would always run and forget to dribble, and they [would] be like ‘No, no, no, you can’t do that,’” Haines said.
Haines began her prep career at Mesa Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona, where she partnered with fellow freshman guard Armani Hawkins, before transferring to finish off her high school career at Desert Vista in Phoenix.
At Desert Vista, Haines gained a slew of accolades to add to an already extensive high school basketball resume. After her senior season where she averaged just over 15 points per-game, she was named to the Arizona Republic’s All-Arizona girls basketball team while earning All-Tribune First-Team honors.
In 2013, Haines was named the Arizona Preps Fall Showcase Tournament’s Most Valuable Player. She participated in USA basketball’s 16-under national team in May 2013, and again the following year at the USA Basketball Women’s U17 World Championship Team. This gave her unmatched experience that she used as a catalyst to propel her to her early success at ASU.
“She came in college-ready,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “She was strong, she was fit, she never missed a sprint time. That work ethic and commitment positioned her.”
Haines’ preparation and commitment is what has her averaging just over 18 minutes per-game on the No. 8 Sun Devils who are 18-4 on the year.
“Hawaii was her coming out party,” Thorne said. “She really, really played well and stepped up and she hasn’t really looked back.”
Haines dropped 11 points in that game at Hawaii, and broke her season-high with 19 points at Washington State.
As a freshman, Haines knows her role on this battle-tested ASU team.
“Her role is to score,” Thorne said. “She’s a great scorer. She’s one of the players that creates as well as anyone on our team.”
Despite her youth, Haines has asserted herself as one of the quiet leaders for this team.
“She tries to lead by example,” said Elisha Davis, ASU’s senior point guard. “She does a good job listening, versus just telling someone else what to do because she knows she’s still learning herself.”
Whatever she is doing, Haines is doing something right. She has played in every game thus far for the Sun Devils, leading her team in free throw percentage at 84 percent and is second in 3-point field goal percentage at just over 40 percent.
While Haines has been a consistently efficient scorer for ASU, she tries to be most consistent in one particular area.
“What I really try to bring is 100 percent hustle [in] whatever the team needs me to do,” Haines said.
Haines credits her upbringing as the reason behind her hustle every time she steps onto the court.
“My mom always told me you might not be the best overall skilled player,” Haines said. “But as long as you hustle and as long as you have heart you’re going to be one of the shining stars.”
Another aspect Haines shines in is balancing her academics with her athletic workload. Haines is a sports journalism major at ASU, which means she takes the majority of her classes in Downtown Phoenix, a 30-minute ride away from Tempe and the rest of her commitments. Despite this, she’s connected with her teammates and coaches.
Haines is a goal-oriented player and she has made that clear from the start of her career at ASU.
“I respect so many of the women who play professionally that are able to be successful broadcasters, Kara Lawson and Rebecca Lobo, all those people on ESPN,” Haines said. “I want to be just like them.”
Although her classes take her away from Tempe, that hasn’t stopped her from putting in the extra work to be successful on the court.
“She has class far away but she always really hustles,” Davis said. “She shows up 30 minutes early or earlier just to make sure she gets in to watch film.”
Haines has three more years in a Sun Devil uniform, and her main goal for those remaining seasons is simple: team success.
“We can do big things here,” Haines said. “[I want to] help my team, help get us together, and do great things. Really, that’s my goal.”
