David J. Olender / Staff Photographer

Name: Jessika Bradley
Position: Forward
Number: 1
Height: 6’3″
Class: Junior
High School: Sacramento High School
Hometown: Sacramento

How she fits
Jessika Bradley makes the San Diego State women’s basketball team even better than it was last season. SDSU had a great run, but was outmatched by Stanford’s size in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The addition of Bradley helps in that area and also takes pressure off junior center Paris Johnson.

“I think she fits pretty well,” Johnson said. “As far as last year, we didn’t have her and it was kind of a struggle for me in the post. But now I have her in the post and she’s like my partner.”

Season so far
Bradley has made an immediate impact in the Aztecs’ first seven games, leading the squad with 52 rebounds and an average of 7.4 per game. In her SDSU debut against UC Irvine on Nov. 13, she grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Then four days later against USD, she notched her first double-double as an Aztec with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

“She’s been a big help,” Johnson said of Bradley. “As far as having teams worried about just one post (player), now they kind of have to worry about me and JB and (junior forward) Allison (Duffy), as far as Allison going in and out of the key. But JB, she’s the monster in the key and they have to worry about her and I get the open looks sometimes. It’s a big help, it takes the distraction off a lot of other people on our team.”

Best tool
The post presence Bradley gives SDSU is easily her best asset, but she provides much more. “She’s a great ball handler,” Johnson said. “A great passer and we haven’t had that yet as a post player.”

Something you don’t know
“I write poetry,” Bradley said. “A lot of people don’t know that I write poetry, I don’t really share that with anybody.”

Quotable
“I definitely want to get better as a player individually, in the aspect that I want to help my team,” Bradley said. “I think that I haven’t yet figured out my role, I haven’t yet produced like I can produce. I still have potential and I need to grow. And that’s just my biggest focus right now, what can I do to help the team, how many more rebounds can I get every game, how many more blocks, how many more points.”