From Super-Fan to Super-Scorer: The Amber Scalia Story

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Amber Scalia had a front-row seat for the birth of a dynasty.

The Stillwater, Minn. native and her family became Minnesota Lynx season-ticket holders in 2011 (during Basketball Hall of Famer Maya Moore's rookie year) and watched the Lynx immediately embark on a run of four WNBA titles in the next seven seasons.

Amber Scalia at Lynx game — *Scalia (center) helping the Lynx celebrate yet another win*

Some of Scalia's favorite memories are of sitting courtside with some combination of her parents Peter and Sheri and older sisters Taylor and Sara and watching stars like Moore, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen lead the Lynx to win after win. And Scalia wasn't just a passive bystander: The Minnesota players would regularly pull kids from the crowd onto the Target Center floor to dance to the team's postgame victory song. "Amber was never shy to dance!", Peter Scalia said. "[Those tickets were] by far the best investment I ever made."

Occasionally, Amber's youth team would even rent the court out and scrimmage on the arena's main floor a few hours before the Lynx played, making a dream doubleheader for a basketball-crazed youngster.

For an up-and-coming hooper who 'always had a ball in my hand' ever since the age of five, the experiences rooting on her hometown team each summer couldn't help but shape her perspective on –and future in– the sport.

"I can't even describe it: Growing up, sitting front row with my family, and watching them win however many championships," Scalia smiled. "It was a dream as a kid, going to every home game and looking up to them. My room at home literally was: You couldn't see any of the wall. It was all Lynx; it was insane."

Amber Scalia and family at Lynx game — *Amber Scalia (front center) and her family at a Lynx game in 2011*

When Scalia first started going to Minnesota's games as a seven-year-old super-fan, it coincided perfectly with the upward trajectory of the franchise. A team coming off six-straight losing seasons promptly improved to 27-7 and not only qualified for the postseason but won a championship trophy.

Fast forward one-and-a-half decades, and now Scalia herself is playing a starring role in the upswing of another rapidly-rising hoops squad, the Mid-American Conference-leading Miami RedHawks (23-5, 14-1 MAC).

"Watching the growth [of the Lynx as a kid] with people coming to the games and winning, it's how I kind of feel like it is here," the Miami senior guard said in a recent interview at Millett Hall.

"At first, not really many fans…we're winning but still not many fans, and then finally now, we're winning and breaking records, and there's a lot of people coming. So there's kind of a similarity – really pretty cool."

Scalia joined the RedHawks' program last spring as a transfer from the University of St. Thomas (where she was twice named All-Conference Honorable Mention and produced over 1,000 career points), committing to spend her senior season playing under a head coach that her family already knew quite well. Glenn Box, now in his third year in Oxford after seven seasons on staff at Indiana University, coached Scalia's older sister Sara during the 2022-23 season with IU before getting the Miami job.

(Want to talk about an uber-athletic family? Besides Amber's hardwood exploits: Sara was a five-time All-Big Ten selection and now plays professional hoops overseas, Taylor won a national championship with the Wisconsin-Eau Claire volleyball team, Sheri played softball and volleyball at Minnesota Duluth, and Peter played basketball at Centenary.)

"I remember Amber getting into the portal and me immediately calling her," Box recalled. "I was already very familiar with her as a player, so I knew that we wanted her and we needed a kid like her. I knew her family was very supportive of me, so I felt like we were going to have a good shot at her because of the pre-existing relationship I already had with her parents and sister. We're all close, but I wasn't close to Amber: I'd never met her or spoken with her until I reached out to her." Amber Scalia

It didn't take much convincing for the youngest Scalia to sign on with Box's vision for the RedHawks. "The main thing when I came on my visit was, I knew we were going to win here, which is exactly what we're doing," Scalia said. "That's what I wanted…

"When he told me about the players he had coming in and the people we were going to have, I knew if we could put it together, we could be so good…and I think we've done a great job of putting it together —all of us combined—I feel like that's why we're great."

Miami won nine games in Box's first season and 19 a year ago, but has taken things to another level with Scalia on board. The RedHawks already own 23 victories and could match the program record for wins in a season (24 in 1981-82) by the end of the week with a victory over Akron. As this unforgettable season has unfolded, Miami has taken down Big 12 foe Cincinnati on the road, swept defending conference champion Ball State, rattled off a 13-game win streak from mid-December to mid-February, shattered the record for three-pointers in a game, broke the single-game home attendance record and racked up a perfect 12-0 mark at Millett Hall.

Amber Tretter, Glenn Box and Amber Scalia

Amber Tretter, Glenn Box and Amber Scalia

Scalia has been an integral piece of the puzzle as one of four starters averaging at least 10 points per game (she's currently second on the team at 14.0 ppg). With four points Saturday, the talented guard will reach 1,500 points for her career, an impressive milestone that most players only dream of. Her output has been remarkably consistent, with 23 double-figure outings in 28 games this season, and she's been on the floor for 23 or more minutes every game for the Red and White.

"She's talented, and she fits our system; we understand what she provides to us," Box said. "And she's shown that she's extremely unselfish. It's easy for a kid like that to try to do more, but she does a good job fitting in and understands the balance of when she needs to press the issue a little bit too…

"I knew we had good experience and good talent, and I felt like what she was able to bring to the table fit with what we were trying to do offensively. She's a multi-tool kid, high IQ, understands the game, and a terrific passer with our posts…I was convinced it would work."

According to Scalia, one of the secrets of her success as a three-level scorer (able to get to the rim, hit from mid-range, and bury shots behind the arc) has been her patience with the ball in her hands. "I've learned along the way to slow the game down a little bit and take my time," she explained. "I can read [the situation] better and let the defense read me: Sometimes if I slow down, they go back out to their man, and if I'm going quick, they have time to come and block me.

Amber Scalia

"I think that's really helped me a lot in scoring in my game…I never really understood that until recently, and it actually makes a lot of sense."

Her approach has worked, with the red-hot RedHawks in position to potentially earn their first regular-season title since 2008. The Mid-American Conference has taken note…and others around the country have as well.

Including a certain former Minnesota Lynx superstar and Basketball Hall of Famer.

When Miami traveled to the Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam last November, one of the other participating schools was perennial powerhouse LSU, a program that happens to have Augustus, one of Scalia's childhood heroes, on its coaching staff.

"We're on the beach and Seimone Augustus is literally sitting 10 feet away from me," Scalia recounted. "I'm in a slight panic…we could play them, so I've got to keep it cool, but I finally got the courage and went up to her and showed her all these pictures I had of her from my phone: Times that she'd been standing in front of me out of bounds [when I was a kid]…

"She was like, 'Wow, that's really cool.' But then, 'Oh wait, I know who you are! Amber Scalia: You're on our scouting report!'

"She knows who I am – it's no big deal," Scalia laughed (before admitting she had to call her parents right away to relay one of the greatest compliments of her life to date). "I told my dad all about it and he thought it was the coolest thing ever, knowing as a kid how excited we were, and now it's like coaching and playing against her."

Scalia's family has been a huge support to her through the ups and downs of college basketball, and not just because they're never more than a phone call away. The Scalias are usually in the stands cheering in person, first when Amber was a half hour down the road at St. Thomas and even now when attending requires a 10-hour road trip to southwest Ohio.

"Since it's my last year of basketball, my family has come to [basically] every single game, so that's been really nice," Scalia said.

Their next trip from Minnesota to the Midwest will be an extra-special one, since Scalia will be one of three RedHawks recognized as part of the team's Senior Day ceremonies this Saturday before a 1 p.m. game against Akron.

"It didn't really hit [me] for a while, but now it's like, I really do have one month left," Scalia said. "I think it's going to be an emotional, sentimental day for a lot of reasons. I can't believe basketball is actually coming to an end. It's been everything for me since I was five; everything I looked forward to every day."

But while her career may be drawing to a close at some point in the next few weeks, one of Scalia's biggest aspirations as a college basketball player is still very much in reach between now and then. Because before she'd ever even played a game for the Red and White, Scalia went on the record with her biggest goal: "I'm coming into this season ready to win and go to an NCAA Tournament – cut down a net."

Amber Scalia at Kent State

If Miami can earn three victories in Cleveland at the conference tournament (March 11-14), that's exactly what would happen: A long-awaited trip to March Madness for a program that's only made it to the Big Dance once previously (2008).

And as everyone knows, Amber Scalia has never been shy to dance.

"I just want to win," Scalia said. "I don't even care if anyone says my name again in another article. I just want this team to succeed. I want to do good things. I want to win. I want to see this team go places in the future…

"To win here, win our conference tournament, go to the NCAA Tournament and [maybe] win games there, I think it would be amazing and I think we can do it.

"It would be a dream come true."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

Amber Scalia and the league-leading RedHawks will play home games on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. vs. Akron and Wednesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. vs. Kent State. The Saturday game against the Zips will be Miami's senior day. Tickets to both contests are available now.

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From Super-Fan to Super-Scorer: The Amber Scalia Story

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