2022-2023 Player Preview: Esther Little

Much of the topic of conversation surrounding the 2022-23 Zags is how many players they lost from the previous season, especially in the front court. So naturally, the chatter that follows is who is around to fill in the open minutes, and that chatter will include Esther Little.

Little, a 6’2 forward from Ipswich, England, saw little playing time last season, so it is hard to draw on that for much of anything. Garbage time to the tune of five minutes per game over 15 games, but she only attempted three field goals over the course of 73 minutes. Not exactly any sort of statistic to expand from.

However, at just a sophomore, Little is on the developmental track at Gonzaga. With the departures of Anamaria Virjoghe, Melody Kempton, and Abby O’Connor from the forward and wing positions, even in Lisa Fortier’s 10-women bench world, that is a lot of minutes to replace.

It is a given that Yvonne Ejim will continue her production in the post. Either Eliza Hollingsworth or Maud Huijbens seem likely to take another starting spot. Little won’t be starting, by any stretch, but she will be playing. The question is just how much.

Little arrived at Gonzaga with solid international experience, playing nearly 50 games for various aged national teams. That was enough to generate some recruiting interest from other high profile Division I schools. Ultimately, she landed at Gonzaga rather quickly, determining that the Bulldog way was the best for her. This year, she has a chance to truly demonstrate why that is the case.