Senior Fope Ayoio reveals that she will be a Wolverine.

WNBA star Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever (left) and Taina Mair, senior star player at Duke University, are two of the most famous graduates from coach Ushearnda Stroud’s AAU program.

This is the story of two women, Fope Ayo and Ushearnda Stroud. The 6-foot, 5-inch Fope (pronounced Fo-pay) Ayo is rated the number one high school female basketball player in Massachusetts (number 45 in the United States). Ushearnda (pronounced U-shearn-da) Stroud is one of the top high school and AAU basketball coaches in America. The two women have known each other for years. Both of their families attend the All Peoples Church in Reading. Growing up, Fope was not interested in basketball. She wanted to be a dancer.

In step one of her basketball transformation, according to a recent podcast, Fope explains an encounter with a basketball recruiter after a Walmart visit. “In the summer of sixth grade, I go out in the Walmart aisle, and I see (this man) and he’s really tall, and he says, ‘Do you play basketball?’ And I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, another basketball question.

I hear this all the time.’ He said, ‘My name is Scott Hazelton, and I’m the coach of the Mass Rivals.’” He asked me if I wanted to try a couple of skills and drills and see if I liked it. And my dad was like, ‘Oh, you’re going!’ And I’ve been on Rivals ever since.”

Step two happened one Sunday in 2020 when coach Stroud (with a coaching resume that would rival that of many in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame) took a look at the frame of young dancer Fope and decided, in her words, “It’s now or never. It’s time to see if this young dancer could become a basketball player. That was the moment that I decided to see if she would take the challenge to play the game I love. It was the year of COVID 19. My Amateur Athletic Union team was scheduled to play in a national tournament. I told Fope that I wanted her to just ‘run’ up and down the court as fast and hard as she could, from the moment I put her into the game until the moment I took her out. And that is exactly what she did. She ran her heart out for every second she was on the court, from the first minute of the first quarter until the last minute of the fourth quarter. She wasn’t worried about scoring, rebounding, etc. — she was focused on doing what was asked of her. I knew from that moment that she would be a special player once we taught her the skills needed to play the game.”

Coach Stroud knows of what she speaks — and has a track record of success to back up her thinking when it comes to recognizing basketball talent. Raised and educated in Germany (“I’m not fluent in the German language, but if you drop me in Ramstein, I can speak it well enough to make my way around”) where she played collegiately and professionally before coming to the United States, receiving her bachelor of science degree from Sacred Heart University.

The Georgia native would gain a reputation as a top-flight “teacher of the game” with many of her recent athletes continuing their academic and basketball careers at prestigious schools such as the University of Connecticut, which is the reigning NCAA Division 1 National Champion. The Huskies are currently undefeated and ranked number one in the Associated Press Poll. Boston College, Marquette, Syracuse, Providence, Dartmouth, Holy Cross and Brown are among the top colleges that have players from coach Stroud’s nest.

WNBA star Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever and Taina Mair (senior star player at Duke University) are two of the most famous graduates from her AAU program.

“I remember traveling from my home in New Hampshire to Worcester, Mass., to train Aliyah, but it was Taina who brought me special distinction while I coached at the Brooks School [from 2018-2025]. It was a dream coaching that 2021-22 team that went undefeated for the first time in school history, winning the NEPSAC Class B title and ISL championship, the first and only time that has happened in 40 years. It was my second championship team, the first coming in 2019-2020. Taina has continued her great play at Duke, becoming only the third player in school history to score 1,000 points and 500 assists.”

When asked what places Fope Ayo in the class of Aliyah Boston and Taina Mair, coach Stroud simply states: “Fope has their drive, competitive spirit, will to win, and is one of the most coachable players I have ever seen. Her special feeling for her education and community makes her a rarity among today’s athletes. While being heavily recruited by South Carolina and Stanford universities, this young woman met with the top officials of those schools, including former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who told Fope that she would be honored to be her academic advisor should she choose to attend Stanford, before deciding to attend the University of Michigan this coming fall.

“During other college recruiting trips she asked questions of college presidents and other top officials about critical issues in ‘today’s life,’ not basketball. Every person who spoke with her came away impressed by her compassion for others. Her Nigerian-immigrant parents [mother Funke — pronounced Foon-kee — is a retired lawyer, and father Faloran, an engineer] are doing an incredible job of raising Fope and her younger sister Fiyin [pronounced Feehan], who are both star players on this year’s Austin Prep women’s basketball team — 9-7 record as of this writing.

While the major attention centers around 6-foot, 5-inch Fope (who averages 24 points, 17 rebounds, and three blocked shots a game), coach Stroud is of the opinion that the 6-foot, 2-inch Fiyin is a star of the future.

“She may wind up being better than her older sister. That is the true joy of coaching: to help develop players who go on to make a contribution to this life. I am blessed to have a player like Fope Ayo.”

And the Michigan prospect is blessed to have a coach like Ushearnda Stroud. The Ayo/Stroud Connection: A divine union that was literally forged in All People’s Church in Reading.