Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.

Orsillo has seen everything during ASU career

TOUGHNESS DEFINED: Senior guard Danille Orsillo has ahd her share of injuries including a knee surgery that wiped out a season. She became the 20th player in ASU history to record 1,000 career points. (Photo by Michael Arellano)
TOUGHNESS DEFINED: Senior guard Danille Orsillo has ahd her share of injuries including a knee surgery that wiped out a season. She became the 20th player in ASU history to record 1,000 career points. (Photo by Michael Arellano)

Danielle Orsillo walks in the Wells Fargo Arena media room following practice, ready to answer questions about the ASU women’s basketball team’s upcoming contest against UA.

She’s wearing three bags of ice tightly bound by saran wrap that squeaks any time she moves a muscle.

One is on the left shoulder she dislocated against Texas A&M in December. This ice has taken place of the goofy-looking giant band aid she wears on that shoulder while playing, but she hasn’t missed any game action because of the injury.

The other two are on each knee — one of which required surgery more than two years ago and forced her to miss the entire 2007-08 season because of a rare injury called an osteochondral defect.

But today is different.

“Usually I have five [ice packs],” Orsillo says.

It’s hard not to admire the fifth-year senior guard’s toughness.

But Orisllo has provided way more to the ASU program than grit, and in return, she has had one of the most well-rounded careers that a college athlete could experience.

“There’s been valleys, but there have been some amazing mountains we’ve climbed together,” Orsillo said. “I didn’t want to go to the schools that had legacies already. I wanted to help establish one in a program, and I feel like that’s something we’ve done here.”

She’s been an instrumental part of the most successful run in the history of the ASU program, where the Sun Devils reached the Elite Eight twice in three years.

She has suffered a serious injury that forced her to sit back and watch for an entire season.

She has taken over as ASU’s go-to offensive player in a year that the Sun Devils are going through much transition, and she became the 20th player in school history to score 1,000 points in December.

Heck, she’s even spent time at the point guard spot this season for the first time of her career.

Yeah, she’s pretty much seen it all.

“I feel like I’ve gotten every single type of year you could have,” Orsillo said. “I’m so happy that this is where God had me, and it’s been an amazing ride.”

Orsillo came Tempe as the third-leading scorer in the history of California high-school girls basketball, and that knack for putting the ball in the basket during big moments carried over to ASU.

During her sophomore year, she stepped into the starting lineup in the Sun Devils’ Sweet 16 game against Bowling Green because Briann January had suffered a concussion and recorded 16 points to help punch ASU’s ticket to its first-ever Elite Eight.

Then during last year’s NCAA Tournament, she hit arguably the most important shot of ASU's season when she drilled a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the second round against Florida State to break a 54-54 tie and help lift the Sun Devils to a comeback win to advance to the Sweet 16.

This season, Orsillo has developed into ASU’s leading scorer at 14.6 points per game, which also ranks ninth in the Pac-10.

And naturally, she nailed the biggest shot of the season so far when she hit a baseline jumper with less than a second left to propel the Sun Devils to a 63-61 victory at California in February.

“Danielle’s leaving a tremendous legacy behind as a big-time scorer — a player that consistently stepped up and hit big shots throughout her career,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said.

But Orsillo’s impact at ASU has extends beyond basketball. She was honored for her community service in the 2007 “Year in Sports” edition of Sports Illustrated, and she was a second-team Pac-10 All-Academic selection last season while already taking graduate courses.

“She’s been exemplarily in terms of a role model in the community,” Turner Thorne said. “I appreciate what they do a lot as a basketball player, but I really appreciate that much more. Did they excel academically? Did they do everything we feel was their obligation as a student-athlete in this community? Danielle has gone above and beyond in both those areas.”

As her career in Tempe starts to wrap up, Turner Thorne said Orsillo’s already etched her mark in the history of the ASU program.

“She really is the consummate Sun Devil,” Turner Thorne said. “She embodies our No. 1 core value, which is ‘Be a giver.’ She is just always giving her heart and soul to things.”

But for Orsillo, she said it hasn’t been about not about the end result. It’s been about the journey — even if she has sustained her fair share of bumps and bruises along the way.

“I’ve grown a lot as a basketball player, but compared to how I’ve grown as a believer and as a woman, there’s just no comparison,” she said. “People aren’t going to remember Danielle the basketball player in five years. It’s all about how I lived while I was here and how I grew and the impact I’ve made in people’s lives — not on their memories.”

Reach the reporter at gina.mizell@asu.edu


Continue supporting student journalism and donate to The State Press today.

Subscribe to Pressing Matters



×

Notice

This website uses cookies to make your experience better and easier. By using this website you consent to our use of cookies. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.