Sunny Conway-Flores

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Alessandra “Sunny” Conway-Flores doesn’t know where her nickname came from and she is just as uncertain about where she will be playing basketball next season. But the Springbrook High School graduate is flourishing this winter at Hagerstown Community College.

With the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference tournament a week away, Conway-Flores is the fifth-leading scorer in the league, averaging 17 points per game for a Hagerstown team that has amassed a 21-2 record.

A 5-foot-8 guard, Conway-Flores is most at home on the wing, with the ball in her hands, where Hagerstown coach Marlys Palmer said her strength is creating her own shots.

“She’s played as a point guard, but she’s probably better as a shooting guard, where the ball is coming through her hands, but she doesn’t have the pressure of being the main ballhandler,” said Palmer, in her 33rd and final season as the Hagerstown coach. “We need her to score. She can penetrate and score left- or right-handed and create shots for herself.”

Palmer said she first spotted Conway-Flores two years ago at a showcase event for unsigned players. Although Palmer would come to appreciate Conway-Flores’ work ethic, the first thing she noticed went beyond the basketball court.

“I was observing her interact with her parents, and it looked like they had a nice family relationship,” Palmer said. “I introduced myself, and I didn’t think I’d hear from her, but a few weeks later her father called and wanted to come for a visit.”

Conway-Flores’ stepfather, Robert Conway, has been a guiding influence in Sunny’s basketball development. She said he has been calling her Sunny since she was 4 or 5, though she isn’t sure why. But she is more certain why he has played a key role in her basketball career.

“My father pushes me a lot,” Conway-Flores said. “He motivated me and took me to the gym to work on ball handling. It became a routine for me that I still do because I want to go somewhere after Hagerstown.

“He played for a year at Frederick and grades came out and he wasn’t eligible to play,” Conway-Flores said. “He always looks back wishes he could have had that one more year. He sees a lot of potential in me and wants me to have that chance.”

Conway-Flores said Palmer recently gave her a list of four-year colleges that have expressed interest in her, including Division II programs at Edinboro, Millersville and Catawba and Division I teams at Mount St. Mary’s, UNC-Ashville, Maryland Eastern Shore and St. Francis (Pa.).

“It pushes me,” Conway-Flores said. “Once she gave me the list, and I saw it was a good combination of Division II and Division I, it’s pushing me to work harder.”

That work ethic is nothing new. Kevin Thompson, who coached Conway-Flores at John F. Kennedy High School when she transferred there to play her senior season, said her dedication was apparent.

“Her playing at this level for two years shows her sustained motivation,” Thompson said. “Some kids, if they don’t get into a four-year school, they go to a juco and their motivation falls off. To her credit, that hasn’t happened. I saw her play this season against Howard Community College, and they pressed her the whole game, but she only had one turnover. That impressed me. She made good decisions under pressure.”

Coaches from four-year schools are likely to see Conway-Flores play during the postseason, which begins next Thursday with the Maryland JUCO Tournament at Frederick Community College. Though her play in those few postseason games will determine her basketball future, Conway-Flores is remarkably relaxed when she talks about what’s to come.

“I try not to stress about it,” Conway-Flores said. “If you stress it’s going to affect your game and your attitude, and I can’t have my teammates see me down or in a bad mood, because that affects everyone.”

Her laid-back outlook is partly a product of spending two years in Hagerstown, where, to say the least, life moves at a slower pace than it does back home in Silver Spring. Rather than city streets and Metro stops, she’s surrounded by mountains and cornfields.

“It was a big move, but I adapted to it,” she said.

Conway-Flores plans to pursue a business degree and said one day she would like to open her own night club. But probably not in Hagerstown.

“Not too many people like to go out here,” she said. “There isn’t really much to do unless you own your own farm.”

selkin@gazette.net