Minisink Valley graduate Stefanie Dolson makes it official with hometown New York Liberty

She's home.

Port Jervis native and Minisink Valley High School graduate Stefanie Dolson signed a deal with her hometown team, the New York Liberty, the team officially announced Thursday.

The 30-year old had her high school jersey retired at Minisink Valley High School in 2016. She was an eighth-grader on the Warriors' Section 9 Class AA championship team in 2006. Dolson then went on to help the UConn women's basketball team win a national championship while in college.

A look back: Minisink Valley honors Dolson by retiring jersey

Gleason: Dolson, one of our own, is NCAA champion

In the last year alone, Dolson has had even more success, winning not only a WNBA Championship with the Chicago Sky, where she played for the last five seasons, but also the first gold medal in Olympic 3x3 history while representing USA Basketball in Tokyo.

In a video on Twitter posted by the official New York Liberty account, Dolson was brought into the Barclays Center and saw a welcome message on the scoreboard. 

"First it was just shock. It was adorable," Dolson said. "I’ve never been a part of something like that. It was really just a cool moment to see that, because it really caught me off-guard, so for them to do that and to go that extra mile definitely pulled at my heartstrings a little bit.”

During an introductory press conference on Thursday, New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb said today is "a really exciting day."

"This has been a long time coming for us, where we’ve in the position over the past few years to build this team through the draft and continue to improve to the point that we’re able to add somebody of the caliber of Stef Dolson," he said. 

New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello, who is in her first season with the team, said that the experience Dolson possesses helps. 

"You need players that have played in the big moments, and obviously Stef has," she said. "She’s won a gold medal at the 3-on-3, as well as a WNBA Championship last year, and that’s hard to do. People think that’s easy. That’s really hard to do. From every experience that you have on all the different teams, you learn so much. Stef has so much experience from all over the world, not just in the WNBA. Those experiences help us in the moments of how to handle adversity, how do we handle it and how to stay together when we are losing some games. All of those things matter.

"We’ve got a really core group and some younger players, too, and then it’s just getting that veteran presence in that could help us move forward a little bit faster, because she’s very experienced, so she’ll be like a coach out on the court," Brondello added.

Brondello mentioned Dolson was on her radar.

“Even when I was interviewing, they asked me what kind of player do you think this team needs and I said 'Stef Dolson,'" she said. "We wanted a player that would compliment the core that we had. I had to go against Stef for so long now and I just loved what she brought to the teams that she was on and I just thought that would be a perfect fit for what we want to do in New York. For me as a coach, we’re getting that anchor, that big five and a really, really good player that compliments our core group. We know defense is an area we need to be better at and Stef allows us to be better at that.”

Dolson said there were a "lot of good things" in regards to why she chose to sign with New York during free agency. 

"It was an amazing trip," she said. "They did such a good job of making me feel special, wanted and appreciated. I think for me what sealed the deal was probably just the team, the players, looking at the roster and feeling like I could really fit in and contribute to this team and play the role that I’ve always wanted to play of being that leader and being that veteran and doing the things that I’m good at. It was everything combined, but I think the thing that really put it over was talking to Betnijah Laney) and hearing how I would fit into playing for them.”

With her hometown being about 80 miles away, Dolson is looking forward to being closer to home.

“Being closer to home is just seeing my family more," Dolson said. "I think a lot of us who play basketball, whether we play overseas or playing in a different state from where our families are, we don’t get to see a lot of them quite often. For me, it’s just going to be able to see them at games and then see these people who I haven’t seen since high school, because I’m closer and there’s more opportunity for them to come. When I have one game in New York, a lot of people can’t come, so it’s just that opportunity for them to get a chance to see me play is pretty special.”

MKramer1@th-record.com

Twitter: @MKramerTHR