Illinois Valley Times

For many top basketball players, playing the game begins in their childhood years.

For Daniela Pavlovich, however, the sport began relatively not that long ago.

Pavlovich told the Illinois Valley Times that her first year of basketball was in the seventh grade – then she didn't play her eighth-grade year. She was not going to play in high school and skipped the team's initial meeting, but the attention of a Putnam County High School official got her to change her mind.

Daniela Pavlovich | Facebook

“After (then-Athletic Director Dave Garcia) talked to me -- he talked me into playing,” Pavlovich said.

She ended up playing all four years in high school in a solid career that led to her current status as a top scorer for Illinois Valley Community College.

In her first two games this season, according to njcaa.org, Pavlovich averaged 21 points – which was 24th in the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) Division II – 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. She was 42nd nationally, with a 46.2 percentage on 3-pointers, going 6 for 13. Her number of 3-pointers made this year was 45th nationally, after being 17th in that category last season, with 77.

Pavlovich lived with her grandparents while growing up, and getting rides to and from basketball practices was a challenge. Her seventh-grade coach, Lynette Olson, stepped in and picked her up for morning practices and dropped her off afterward.

“I owe her a huge thank-you for everything that she did because she really made it possible to be at everything with all my other teammates,” Pavlovich said.

She went on to star at Putnam County and attracted attention from colleges. Pavlovich said she went to IVCC because she “wasn't ready to leave home yet.” Also, her grandmother, Zorka, was ill, and Pavlovich wanted to help take care of her. Zorka passed away on June 19, 2015. To honor her, Pavlovich switched her jersey number from 21 to 20, as Zorka's birthday is July 20.

“I know she's at the games and stuff all the time now, but it just makes me feel better to have her number on me and play for a school with her,” Pavlovich said.

The transition was challenging for Pavlovich, as she tore a knee ligament two games into her first season at IVCC and missed the rest of the season. She also noticed some immediate differences in the way women play at the college level compared with high school.

“The girls that play at the college level are all girls that want to be playing basketball,” she said. “They hustle, they go to the weight room, they're stronger, they're so much faster.”

Pavlovich recovered from the knee injury in about four months. During her time off, she said she watched the games and learned.

“I think that having that year, like my first year, to sit out and just watch the competition, kind of made me realize what I had to do to be able to fit in after my (ligament) tear,” she said.

After the ligament tear, she started lifting weights and working on her game. She also has taken to rallying her teammates.

“I'm getting older and stuff, so I just think the game changes as you get older,” Pavlovich said. “Like, helping my teammates and stuff, like, I'm the one on the court letting them know, like, we need to, like, if we're down, we need to get stuff going.”

With her eligibility at IVCC expiring after this season, Pavlovich said she plans to move on to play at a four-year college for two years. She also has an eye on coaching someday.

“I don't know how, like, I'm going to be able to, like, let go of basketball down the road,” she said.