Following in the footsteps of her older sister, things are beginning to really take off for 6'3" forward Mara Donnelly (Susquehanna Valley '21). After being in her sisters shadow for the past couple of years, the younger Donnelly is making a statement of her own and has now officially earned her first Division 1 offer.

It's always easy to see two sisters who are similar sizes and make automatic comparisons, and while it's easy to do that with Mara and her older sister, UMass bound Maeve Donnelly, her AAU coach with BNY Select in Rob Baxter says they aren't exactly the same player when you analyze their games.

"They both obviously bring good length and size but their skill sets are pretty different," Baxter stated. "Maeve is a little longer and more of a shot blocking presence but what Mara brings is she is just a true live wire run and jump athlete. She runs fast, jumps high, and has tremendous fitness levels so for her I think it's just continuing to get better and building her confidence up more."

There is a reason why the younger Donnelly may not be the most confident player right now, especially offensively as in the past she has never been a focal point on that side of the floor, though that is beginning to change as she has showed over the first couple of AAU Live Period events in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that she can be a finisher around the rim to go along with her presence inside defensively.

Once her confidence matches her ever growing skill set Baxter says that Donnelly will more than likely show aspects of her game that he doesn't even know exist, though her is confident that much like Maeve really came on as a force on the offensive side as she began her junior year, the same thing will more than likely to happen with Mara.

Baxter said after the Atlantic City Showcase a week ago that Donnelly's recruitment will sooner than later begin to take off, feeling that this summer would be her take off point but he proved to be wrong on that note as its started even earlier with UMass-Lowell coming in with her first Division 1 offer just this past Wednesday.

It was a huge moment for Donnelly as getting offer number one should only enhance her confidence and being out bigger and better things out of her game, with a big July to come where Baxter says more offers, he believes will surely now come her way.

"You have to remember that Mara was a reserve on the younger team a year ago and didn't get a ton of meaningful minutes, and now this year she is on the older team and the goal is to play her more minutes every weekend that goes by, and when we get to July I see Mara really blossoming with her trajectory really then taking off in a big way," Baxter explained.