Katelyn Linney will take over a key role for the Stags (Peter Caty/The Mirror).
Significant minutes are available to fill this year after the women’s basketball team graduated four key players. While some of those minutes will be filled by returning players, before the season both head coach Joe Frager and senior Stephanie Geehan predicted a significant portion of those minutes would also go to freshmen.
“We have some rookies who are going to get some minutes,” said Geehan. “Katelyn Linney will play a lot and all our freshman, Laura Vetra and Brittany MacFarlane, will also play.”
And now, for the second year in a row, a freshman will be a starting guard for the women’s basketball team following current sophomore Desiree Pina.
Linney, from St. John Vianney in N.J., started the Stags season-opener at Rhode Island and scored a game-high 18 points off seven of 13 shooting, including four of nine from beyond the arc.
Her 18 points is the most of any women’s basketball player in their collegiate debut since moving to Division I in 1981. She is also the first Fairfield rookie to lead the team in scoring since 2001 when Cathy Dash did so.
“The first few minutes she wasn’t as relaxed; she seemed a little tight,” said Frager. “But she settled down. She knows her job and that’s to give us some scoring. She’s certainly not a selfish player, she’s actually very unselfish. But she knows her role is to shoot.”
Linney has moved into the starting lineup without any trepidation.
“It was great to play a game,” said Linney. “It was exciting. I love playing.”
Vetra and MacFarlane played a few minutes, but Linney played 32 minutes and was counted on to provide much of the scoring for the Stags. Frager said that Linney, along with Geehan and Pina, will comprise the top options for the Stags this year.
“I really like our offense,” said Linney. “I think it works well for our team.”
Linney was also named the MAAC Rookie of the Week for her efforts in her first-ever collegiate game. During her four-year varsity career at St. John Vianney, Linney scored 1,355 points while being named First Team All-State and a 2008-2009 McDonald’s All-American nominee as a senior.
“The games are more physical, but I think I’ve come into my own,” said Linney.
Already, during her freshman year, the Stags are going to count on that.
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