FREMONT – After torching defenses to the tune of 20-plus points in any given game, Shirina Shi heads back to her family’s Fremont home.
There, the behind-the-scenes work continues for the American High standout.
Shi’s fast-paced arsenal of sharp crossovers, knee-buckling hesitations and tricky dribbles – moves so effective teammates have deemed her ball handling mastery as “godlike” – are further sharpened the old-fashioned way.
The 16-year-old sophomore guard meticulously practices her moves for around an hour in the backyard on warm evenings and inside the garage on chillier nights.
“Especially if I’m not satisfied with my performances, I will keep working,” Shi said.
That drive, along with prodigious talent and athleticism that far outsizes her 5-foot-3 frame, has helped Shi garner interest from colleges and lead a resurgent Eagles team that has dreams of winning the program’s first North Coast Section title.
Shi scored 35 points in wins over Half Moon Bay and Mission San Jose and 20 or more points in all but three of her games thus far.
At 15-4, American has already surpassed last season’s win total thanks in large part to Shi’s fearless play, a resolve forged on the courts at nearby Northgate Park as a young child.
Her grandfather, whom Shi said was also a gifted basketball player back in his youth, would take his granddaughter to the local park and have her learn by playing against the boys.
“I was always the fastest … and the smallest,” Shi remembered. “I obviously was not the best, but I learned to play like I wanted to play.”
The love of the game was further nurtured by her parents, Amy Zhang and Charles Shi, as their daughter became obsessed with getting baskets.
Her relentless style, defined by a never-ending blitz of crossovers and frenetic dribble-drives in search of layups among much taller players, has translated from the park to the high school court.
Shi immediately became American’s top scorer as a freshman after lighting up the AAU circuit as a middle-schooler.
“I’ve known her since fifth grade, so there’s nothing she’s done that is surprising,” teammate Leann Wang said.
Shi is the latest in a long line of prolific bucket-getters who have played under longtime coach Keith Ramee. It’s a list that includes former college players Chiara Brown and Dawson Bell.
Ramee sees Shi, who also has a 4.0 GPA, joining them in the college ranks upon graduating from American.
Watching Shi carve up defenses, it’s easy to see why.
She’s comfortable finishing around the rim with both hands and has a compact shooting form that can be unleashed off the dribble or catch if given even the slightest sliver of space.
“If I attack the gaps, that can create more opportunities for my teammates,” Shi said.
That playmaking eye has turned her into the unquestioned floor general for the Eagles. She is asked to balance her scoring bursts with executing the kind of passing reads that college teams will need her to make at the next level.
The blossoming interest from colleges – UC Santa Cruz and Cal State Monterey, among them – is something Shi is thankful for and motivated by.
“You have so much more weight on you, and more expectations,” Shi said. “Just because you have those offers, that doesn’t mean you can work less. If anything, you have to work harder.”
It’s no shock that the Bay Area native patterns her game after Stephen Curry, although as the WNBA prepares to enter the region, Shi’s also started to take note of that league’s biggest star.
“Caitlin Clark, with her three-point range and how she’s changed the game, how she’s changed women’s basketball, I just love her game,” Shi said.
Shi’s teammates, who include fellow captains Sahana Pamarthy and Wang, dub her as the funniest person on the team, liable to break into random dances and get off witty one-liners to keep the mood light in practice.
On the court is a different matter.
“She takes things very seriously and she wants to win, and a lot of us back her up,” Pamarthy said. “We all piggyback off of Shirina’s energy.”
That energy doesn’t just translate on the offensive side of the ball for Shi, who is far from a one-dimensional gunner.
Shi has become an enthusiastic – if still improving – stopper on the perimeter after being picked on defensively as a freshman.
“Everyone thinks she’s just a great scorer, but I think she’s a great all-around player who will get even better over the next two years,” Ramee said.
Even though Shi has the talent to play at a more established high school basketball powerhouse, she’s more than happy to put on the Eagles jersey.
“Staying home, and representing them, is a big thing for me,” Shi said.
If Shi continues to improve, the scholarship offers could continue to roll in regardless of where she’s playing her high school hoops.
But college is still years away.
Right now, Shi is focused on helping the Eagles get ready for what could be a deep postseason run.
And with a high-scoring talent like Shi leading the way, anything is possible.
