Change of course for Hall senior Ella Sterling

Ella Sterling had her eyes set on playing college basketball with 30-some NCAA Division III offers on the table and receiving interest from D-I and D-II schools.

A trip to a summer learn-to-row camp at Eastern Michigan University has her charting an unplanned course.

The Hall senior has received the Division I scholarship she desired – not for basketball, but rather for rowing. Sterling signed an athletic scholarship with Eastern Michigan for women’s rowing.

“I ended the college basketball recruiting process after I signed with EMU and am very excited to start the next chapter in my life,” Sterling said. “I am thankful to have the community of Spring Valley, all of my teachers/administration, fellow teammates/students, and especially my coaches at Hall High School, as they have always been supportive and kind to me.”

Sterling went to the rowing camp in July at Eastern Michigan “just to see what it was and had a blast.”

When she received a recruiting letter from Drake University about rowing, however, she thought it must be a mistake.

“I had Drake reach out to me, and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s the wrong Ella Sterling. They didn’t mean to reach out to me.' So I kind of pushed it off to the side,” she said. “Then I had the University of Washington, Iowa and Eastern Michigan reach out, and I’m like, ‘Oh, wait, this isn’t a joke. I’m actually going to get recruited for this sport.‘”

Sterling re-explored the sport and let Drake know she would reconsider rowing as an option and started doing some research on the other schools. She took an official, three-day visit to the Eastern Michigan campus in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and fell in love.

“It was a great atmosphere. I loved everything. Beautiful campus. Beautiful lake. Beautiful everything,” she said. “I accepted the Eastern Michigan University athletic scholarship, where I will compete in the [Mid-American Conference] and study Criminal Justice/Forensics.

“I felt a strong connection with the team, coaches and other incoming recruits that I had met. I was also impressed with what EMU offered for me academically versus what the other universities offered.”

Sterling, who transferred to Hall a year ago from Seneca, is averaging 12.4 points and an area-best 8.4 rebounds a game for the Red Devils' basketball team this season.

Six months ago, she would have said she was for sure going to go somewhere to play basketball.

“But then rowing came along, and I was like, ‘Let’s just do it.' For sure a switch of events, but something new,” she said. “It was a new sport. Never heard of it. Then once I got into it, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I can actually be good at this if I really just put my effort into it.’

“So I think I can go far and make an impact on the team. And I want to because it’s the MAC, and I want to lead the team to a win.”