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Brink determined to make a change for the sake of her psychological well-being. “I simply determined to take away myself. I knew I deserved higher, so I left. And I’m comfortable I did,” she mentioned.
Earlier than senior 12 months, Brink transferred to a just lately opened faculty known as Mountainside Excessive. The recent begin suited her socially and on the courtroom. Brink averaged 19.7 factors and 12.9 rebounds per sport as a senior, and was named to the McDonald’s and Jordan Model Basic All-American groups in 2020.
4. She was recruited by Stanford, the place she turned a defensive standout.
Discuss a full-circle second: Stanford, the college which sparked her love for basketball as a center schooler, made Brink her first-ever scholarship supply. Brink was already laser-focused on Stanford, so it was a pure match to hitch the workforce underneath coach Tara VanDerveer.
Throughout Brink’s freshman season, the workforce gained all 20 video games she began. Additionally they clinched their first NCAA championship since 1992, eking out the victory by one level. Brink contributed 10 of the workforce’s 54 factors in that sport and led in blocks.
Throughout her first three years of faculty, Brink set—then reset—the college file for single-season blocks, ending with 118 as a junior, rating quantity two within the nation. As a sophomore and junior, she led the workforce in factors, rebounds, and blocks.
Brink helped her workforce turn out to be Pac-12 common season champions for 4 consecutive seasons and win the Pac-12 match in 2021 and 2022. In 2024, Brink completed her collegiate profession with essentially the most blocks in Stanford historical past with 424—a stat that helped her win the Naismith Defensive Participant of the Yr award.
5. Steph Curry doles out some helpful coaching recommendation.
Brink has a secret weapon that’s turn out to be useful throughout her journey to the WNBA: Her godbrother is without doubt one of the NBA’s prime shooters, Stephen Curry. Their dads performed basketball collectively in faculty, and their mothers had been faculty roommates. The households stay shut buddies, and the Currys are Brink’s godparents.
At a press convention earlier than Brink’s first NCAA match, Curry advised reporters that he and his dad “spent a little bit little bit of time together with her [and] gave her some pointers” to develop her soar shot. He added that she’s “off and operating” now and “it’s been superior to observe” her develop as a participant.
So when it got here time for the 2024 WNBA draft, it’s no shock that Brink reached out to him to share the second. She Facetimed Curry minutes earlier than it kicked off and later advised reporters that her godbrother reminded her to “have enjoyable with it.”
6. Over 1,000,000 folks comply with her on social media.
Brink’s athletic dominance, trend sense—she was just lately featured in a Skims marketing campaign alongside different WNBA gamers—and openness on social media made her a must-follow: She’s racked up practically 800,000 on Instagram and over 300,000 on TikTok.
So it’s solely becoming that Brink has benefited from the NCAA’s 2019 Title, Picture and Likeness (NIL) ruling, which permits scholar athletes to earn a living from model offers. In line with On3, she’s made near $300,000 via NIL partnerships (with manufacturers like Estée Lauder and Sprouts) this 12 months via April 16, which makes her the tenth highest-paid girls’s basketball participant within the NCAA.
7. Brink made historical past with a New Steadiness sponsorship.
Regardless of rising up within the Nike zip code and self-describing herself as a “Nike child” because of her mother and father’ jobs, Brink accepted a sponsorship contract with New Steadiness in August 2023. In line with a assertion from the model, she’s New Steadiness’s first sponsored feminine basketball participant.
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