After a standout freshman season, Los Gatos High center Nicole Steiner entered her sophomore year knowing she would need to take on a bigger leadership role on the team.
From scoring points, rebounding, playing defense and encouraging her teammates, Steiner’s role has taken on greater importance after Belle Bramer transferred to Mitty for the 2022-2023 school year. Last season, Steiner would grab rebounds and immediately pass it to Bramer.
“She was the first person I found and that’s why I think Belle and I clicked really well,” Steiner said. “She liked to score but now that she’s not here, I was like, ‘OK, I have to be the person to score.’ But I also looked at it as how I wanted to get the whole team in the flow and be able to have all five people on the court and all five on the bench being able to score.
“I really want to help develop everyone and I definitely came into this season with more of a leadership mindset than the year before, just because of all the experience I gained from last year and knowing this year would be a little different.”
About once every two to three games, Steiner will put up Bill Russell-esque type numbers. In a 50-31 win over Prospect on Dec. 12, Steiner had 20 points and 25 rebounds, including 13 offensive. She followed that superb performance with 25 points and 14 rebounds in a win over Pioneer and 28 points and 14 rebounds in a victory over Aragon.
“Rebounding is wanting to go get the ball and being able to track it and figure out if the shot is going long or deep, but ultimately it’s wanting to get the rebound and put yourself in the right position,” she said.
Having determination to rebound is key, but it also helps that Steiner is a physical specimen, according to Wildcats coach Sara Quilici Giles.
“Nicole is so strong that she’s going up through so much contact, but it doesn’t look like it’s a foul because she’s so strong,” Giles said after the team’s loss to Branham on Dec. 7. “She gives (assistant coach Matt) Holm bruises during practice because she’s like a freak of nature that way.”
As the season goes along, Giles hopes Steiner will get the benefit of the doubt in getting foul calls. She hit 6-of-8 free throws against Branham and should get double-digit attempts at the charity stripe every game because she’s always around the basket and going up for shots with multiple defenders around her.
Steiner said one of her highlights was playing perennial NorCal power Pinewood on Dec. 10, a game in which Los Gatos was competitive before losing, 55-48.
“Other than the fact we lost, that was a fun game for everyone because we all played really good and had the lead until the fourth quarter against a good team,” she said.
The Steiner family tree has a rich history in Los Gatos. Both of Nicole’s parents graduated from Los Gatos High, Bill in the class of 1979 and Kathy the class of 1986. Bill is a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame and Kathy was an exceptional athlete in her own right.
Nicole said between both her mom and dad’s side, she has a total of 22 cousins, many of whom are or were standout athletes. However, some members of the family have said Nicole could be the best athlete among them all, a compliment Nicole doesn’t take lightly.
A look at Nicole’s accomplishments so far in her high school career confirms her athletic prowess. As a freshman, Steiner helped lead the girls volleyball and basketball teams to the CIF NorCal playoffs. Then last June, Steiner advanced to the CIF State Track and Field Championships for the shot put.
From there, competing for top club volleyball team Vision took up the majority of her time until high school volleyball practice began in late July, though Steiner did manage to practice or play some basketball whenever she could fit it in her jam-packed schedule.
Steiner attended four college volleyball camps last summer, including Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, UC Irvine and Cal Poly. Attending camps is a crucial part of the recruiting process, as it allows coaches to see recruits and validate the athletes’ skills and makeup.
For an athlete like Steiner, it helps her to narrow down a college should it decide to offer her a scholarship or roster spot on a team.
“They want to show you how they run their practices and a few of them you’re doing the actual identical warm-ups they normally do for practice,” Steiner said. “They have some drills and at the end they evaluate you through that and games. There’s a Q&A at the end and a campus tour, which is really nice. I really liked all of them.”
Though Steiner sees volleyball as her projected sport in college, she’s keeping her options open and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her receive scholarship offers in basketball or track and field. One of the keys to Steiner’s accomplishments is she doesn’t put too much pressure on herself.
Instead, she focuses on getting her work in and enjoying the process, letting the results come. One of her most enjoyable moments of her athletic career was this past volleyball season as she got to play with her older sister Katie.
“It was exciting to watch her grow and to be on the same team,” Nicole said. “[Holm] announced the home games for us and he’s just a great person and whenever we were on the court at the same time, he would always say the Steiner sisters, and we had a lot of fun with it.”
Wow, Emanuel ~ what a thoughtful and thorough article you wrote about Nicole! Thank you for taking the time to learn about her, talk with her & share a bit about the family too. Shes a warm and wonderful niece 💕