FRENCHTOWN — Mason Quinn has long been a staple of the Frenchtown girls basketball program.
A four-year starter, Quinn's talent was on display early, as she was thrown into the fire immediately as a freshman.
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"As a young player, I think I was really lucky to have other teammates who were going to go play college basketball," Quinn said. "So that was lucky for me that I could look up to them and just see what it was like. And I think my freshman year, we kind of turned it around. But I've seen my physicality (improve), too. I was really skinny as a freshman playing varsity basketball. So I've definitely seen that help, that helps everything."
Fast forward to today, and Quinn is one of the state's top talents on a Frenchtown team among the best in Class A with high aspirations come March. The Broncs currently sit at 13-2 overall and 7-0 in the Southwest A.
Quinn entered this year with a target on her back, and you see it in games, often drawing double and triple teams as opponents focus on her, but the Broncs as a unit have worked around it to find success.
"It's definitely crazy," Quinn said. "I can't even stand in the corner and there's two girls just staring at me. It's definitely different, but I have some great teammates, so it's awesome that I can just stand in the corner, really, and they're just getting layups. So I think we've definitely been able to make teams pay for doing that."
But the attention comes with good reason.
Quinn raked in 23 offers to play NCAA Division I basketball as a highly touted recruit, and she settled on Boise State, a program among the best in the Mountain West that is transitioning to the Pac-12 next year.
"The coaches have been there forever. I just know I can find stability there, which I think is changing right now in college athletics," Quinn said. "So I really just fell in love with them. And then meeting the girls that I'd be playing with, I just really could picture myself there. And then I just love Boise, too."
It was a gratifying and validating moment for a player who grew up in a basketball household and dreamed of taking the college court.
"I didn't stop smiling for days," she said. "I can wear blue, I can wear colors without people being like, 'Oh, you're going there.' So it was just awesome to just really be loud and proud about it.
"It was definitely like, wow, like this is really happening. And I have all these choices, which I was super lucky to have, recruiting. It was a really hard time towards the end, just choosing where to go. I couldn't be more grateful for what I had."
Frenchtown sits atop the Southwest A standings as one of the best teams in all of Class A.
So before Quinn becomes a Bronco, it's about finishing strong as a Bronc.
"Just enjoying the hard parts, running 17s. It's by my best friends at least," Quinn said. "I love basketball, enjoying that piece of it, too, but just really soaking up, you know, the bus rides, locker rooms, everything like that."
