That relationship paid immediate dividends for Wells, who saw a dramatic improvement from her sophomore to her junior season as a guard for the Tigers.
Averaging 3.3 points in a little over 14 minutes a game in 2020-21, she moved into the starting point guard role as a junior and nearly tripled her scoring output to 9.1 points a game. She also added 2.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists while playing 28-plus minutes per night.
“I can definitely say my confidence has gone way up,” Wells said. “Coach J really instilled in my to believe in myself. She showed that she believed in me, and that really helped my growth and my confidence.”
One of the keys to her massive scoring increase was a focus on an often overlooked fundamental of the game – free throws.
“Free throws, those were never like, ‘Sania, those are your go-to points,” she said. “But starting last year, Coach J and the staff started making us shoot 50 free throws before and after practice. I think that really helped me.”
She went from a marginal free-throw shooter her first two seasons to one of the nation’s best, hitting 90.5 percent of her attempts (76-of-84) for the year, making her first 15 of the season and 25 of her first 26. Her percentage at the line led the SEC, ranked seventh in the nation and set the Auburn single-season record.
“Once I figured out, ‘Hey, free throws are your thing,’ that really boosted me to get to the free throw line more,” Wells said.