Inglemoor’s Deja Strother lays one in.

When Deja Strother walks on the court, people notice.

At 6-foot-5, Inglemoor’s Strother stands head over her competition, and it’s fair to say her opponents are a little intimidated.

Of course, this is to be expected coming a girl who was taught by her father, a 6-foot-5 former Bellevue College forward, and has been practicing post moves since she was five.

The five star center was spotted early by recruiters, and she picked up eight offers from PAC-12 schools. But Strother’s only interest was Washington: she verbally committed to the Huskies after her sophomore year and didn’t visit any other programs.

Strother was also selected to play in the McDonalds All-American game, which will take place April 1. Strother said the nomination was “a really high honor and definitely shows your hard work has paid off.”

Inglemoor coach John Augustovo said he is “not much of a stat guy,” but it’s hard to ignore the stat lines Strother has produced for No. 2 Inglemoor (15-1; 12-0). Strother averages 17.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game.

Inglemoor’s only losses over the last three years were when Strother played for less than 14 minutes, and the Vikings’ one loss this year to Monroe came when Strother was gone.

“The last six years we’ve been strong, but Deja’s just the X-factor,” Augustovo said. “She’s a 6-5 kid that you have to do something about as an opposing team, and it just makes everybody around her better, because you have to put the extra effort on stopping her.”

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Augustovo said her ability around the basket leads to a lot of layups for Strother, and she shoots 65 percent from the field.

“She has incredibly soft hands,” Augustovo said. “She finishes very well, and she knows how to position her body so that when she does get in position, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

We caught up with Strother on committing to Washington, why she loves Regina Rogers, and what her dad taught her about basketball.

Tell me about some of your memories playing with your dad growing up.

We would always go to the gym and work on the basic things that you just really needed to have. We worked on passing all the time, and catching the ball. We worked on post moves. We never did any outside shooting. It was always inside and holding onto the ball and being strong with the ball.

How has the team chemistry been this year compared to last year?

That’s one of the main things we tried to focus on this year was getting good team chemistry and staying close together. We’ve actually done really well. We’re super close with each other and we’ve stuck together. There’s been no drama. Everyone’s just getting along with each other, and it definitely shows out on the court and during the games. We just look like a really close paired team. Last year we struggled with that a little bit, but this year you can see the difference.

What drew you to UW?

I’ve been around the program a lot growing up, so I really love the coaching staff, and the players are so nice, welcoming. I knew I wanted to stay home, because I love Seattle, and I wanted my family to be there and the support from them. I fell in love with UW from the start, and I didn’t look at anyone else. I looked at it as what was going to make me happy the next four years, and it was a plus that they were doing pretty good at basketball at the time, and they’re doing pretty great now. It really impacted my decision.

Before you came into the season, what were some things personally you wanted to improve on?

My composure. It’s something I struggled with last year. I really wanted to go out there every game and play more for the team instead of myself and really keep things together and keep a positive mind no matter what the outlooks of the game were, and make sure that everyone else looks good and I was focusing on me last.

Are there any professional or college basketball players you try to model yourself after?

I’ve never thought about comparing myself to anyone else…I used to love how [Los Angeles Sparks forward] Candace Parker played. I actually did like how [center] Regina Rogers played at UW.

What drew you to Regina Rogers?

She wasn’t the fastest, but she definitely dominated when she got the ball inside. No one could stop her inside, and I think that’s a really good thing, because she worked hard on that. Instead of focusing on what she couldn’t do, she focused on what she could do and made sure she was the best at that.