Tiana England, Stamford High’s all-time leading scorer with 1,501 career points, had a very good freshman season for St. John’s University to highlight some of the successful women’s college basketball seasons which were turned in by former FCIAC players.
The accomplishments and statistics of those players are listed underneath each of the respective FCIAC high schools which they graduated from, with those schools being listed in alphabetical order.
Note: The names of the players included here were provided by the coaches from FCIAC teams. If there are any players you would like to see included in this story, please email their names and schools to [email protected].
Click the player names for bios from their college websites.
Danbury
Rachel Gartner was a 5-foot-8 senior guard who completed her four-year career at Boston College. She averaged 1.1 points and 8.6 minutes a game as a senior.
Andreah Orr was a 6-foot-1 freshman center who started in five of the 25 games she played in for Albertus Magnus. She averaged 5.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 15.1 minutes per game.
Allie Smith was a 5-foot-10 junior guard/forward who appeared in 16 games for the Southern Connecticut State University Owls.
Former Danbury star Casey Smith, who completed her solid career at Fairfield University during the 2016-17 season, played professionally in the German League as a 6-foot-2 forward for the BG74 Veilchen Ladies Goettingen team and averaged 6.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 23.0 minutes in 22 games. During her final year in college Smith became the 30th Stag in Fairfield’s 1,000-points career scoring club, having scored 1,075 points and averaged 11.9 points in 90 games during her three-year career from 2014-17. She averaged 12.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a senior and was selected to the All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Third Team for the second straight year.
Fairfield Ludlowe
Caroline Pangallo was a 5-foot-7 junior guard at Connecticut College who started in six of the 24 games she played and averaged 4.5 points, 3.1 assists and 18.7 minutes per game. Pangallo has played in 72 games and averaged 3.6 points during her three-year career.
Alex McKinnon was a 5-foot-11 sophomore forward who started in 27 of 29 games for Montclair State and averaged 8.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 31.4 minutes per games. She had a great game on Dec. 9, 2017 when she had 22 points and nine rebounds, including five offensive boards, while leading the Red Hawks to a 61-48 victory over Rowan University.
McKinnon has averaged 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 22.9 minutes in the first two years of her career.
Greenwich
Abbie Wolf was a 6-foot-4 was a backup sophomore forward/center who played in 27 games for Northwestern and averaged 2.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 9.3 minutes per game.
Wolf had the best all-around game of her career at Wisconsin on Jan. 21 when she collected eight points, five rebounds, two blocked shots, two assists and two steals. Then on Feb. 18 she hit all four of her field goal attempts to score a career-high 10 points in just eight minutes against Illinois.
Jamie Kockenmiester started in 26 out of the 27 games she played as a 5-foot-9 junior guard for the University of Chicago and averaged 5.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 19.9 minutes per game. She scored a career-high 13 points against Carthage while grabbing four rebounds. Kockenmeister made the UAA All-Academic Team and the Fred Raizk Memorial Classic All-Tournament team.
Shaye Galletta was 5-foot-10 freshman guard who averaged 2.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 9.1 minutes per game in 16 games for Babson College.
Jayla Faison was a 5-foot-7 freshman guard who averaged 1.8 points and 7.3 minutes per game in 11 games for Roanoke College.
Norwalk
Asiah Knight started in seven of the 14 games she played in as a 5-foot-8 freshman forward for Western Connecticut State University and averaged 7.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 17.7 minutes per game.
Ridgefield
Rebecca Lawrence, a junior forward at the University of Delaware, was named the Blue Hens’ Most Improved Player for the 2017-18 season. She played in 32 games, starting 29 times, and racked up 51 blocked shots, a mark which ranks 10th in program history. She had 14 multi-block games and averaged 5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 22.8 minutes per game.
Jesse Camarda appeared in all 30 games, starting nine times, as a sophomore point guard for the Adelphi Panthers. She averaged 17.4 minutes and 6 points per game, and scored in double figures six times. Camarda was also 37-for-114 on three-pointers, and had a career-best 29 points during a win over SNHU in January.
Andrea Bedard was a junior forward for the SUNY Geneseo Knights. She played in 14 games and averaged 4.1 minutes pre game.
Bates College guard Julia Middlebrook was named to the Maine All-Rookie Team by the Maine Women’s Basketball Coaches Association after a successful freshman season. Middlebrook averaged 27.3 minutes, with 7.6 points, 3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
Meaghan O’Hara played in 25 games as a freshman forward for the University of Chicago. She averaged 10.6 minutes and four points per game while coming off the bench.
St. Joseph
Jackie Jozefick came off the bench to play in 16 games for Babson College and the 6-foot sophomore forward averaged 4.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 14.3 minutes per game.
Bridget Sharnick was a 5-foot-9 redshirt sophomore forward who played in five games for Southern Connecticut State University.
Mairead Donahue completed her four-year career at Dickinson College. The 6-foot-1 senior forward started in eight of 16 games and averaged a 3.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 19.6 minutes per game. She started in 20 of 82 games and averaged 3.1 points for her career.
Stamford
Tiana England, a 5-foot-7 freshman guard for St. John’s University, averaged 9.4 points, a team-leading 5.0 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals and a team-leading 34.6 minutes per game while starting in 32 of 34 games for coach Joe Tartamella’s 19-15 Red Storm.
She had her season-high of 21 points along with four assists on Feb. 23 in a 67-54 loss to a strong DePaul team and she also scored 17 points in three other games.
England led Stamford to its first state CIAC State Class LL championship ever and first FCIAC championship since 1979 when she was a senior during the 2015-16 season and she was a three-time All-FCIAC and New Haven Register All-State selection. She was a redshirt freshman this past winter as she missed all of the 2016-17 season due to injury.
Kelsey Santagata was a 5-foot-10 junior forward who started in all 26 games for Eastern Connecticut State University and averaged 10.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 33 minutes played per game.
During her two-year career Santagata has started in 47 of 51 games and averaged 10.6 points and 29.8 minutes per game. Santagata averaged 14.5 points per game during the last four games of the seasons, including when she sank 10-of-17 shots from the field and scored her season high of 21 points while leading the ECSU Warriors to a 62-54 victory over Southern Maine.
Trumbull
Taylor Brown had a solid freshman season for Montclair State. The 5-foot-11 freshman guard averaged 4.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 19.7 minutes while starting in 12 of the 29 games she played. Brown scored a season-high 11 points in a 69-52 victory over Ramapo College and grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds in a 71-61 victory over Farmingdale State.
Amanda Pfohl came off the bench and played in 16 games for Southern Connecticut State University. The 5-foot-8 junior guard averaged 3.3 points per game. Pfohl scored her career-high 12 points against AIC on Dec. 5.
Westhill
Edona Thaqi averaged 14.6 points and 4.6 rebounds as a 5-foot-9 freshman combination guard for UConn-Avery Point. Thaqi, who plans on playing for Fordham during the upcoming season, fired in 30 points in a victory over Bunker Hill Community College and she also scored 25 points and 23 points in a pair of victories over Springfield Technical Community College.
Wilton
Erin Cunningham averaged 10.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 27.9 points minutes per game as a 5-foot-10 junior forward for Trinity College. Cunningham fired in a career-high 28 points at Coast Guard on Jan. 2 when she drained 9-of-12 shots from the field, including 7-of-8 three-pointers, to lead Trinity College to an 83-58 victory.
Haley English averaged 5.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 31.1 minutes per game in the 28 games she played for Skidmore College. English, a 5-foot-6 junior guard, had season-high outputs of 15 points and seven assists in a 78-56 home victory over William Smith on Feb. 9.
Christina Holmgren started in 18 of the 23 games she played in as a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard/forward for Swarthmore College. She averaged 3.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 19.7 minutes per game. Holmgren also made the Centennial Winter Academic Honor Roll.
Erica Meyer played at Providence College as a sophomore during the 2016-17 season, then transferred to Santa Clara and sat out this past season due to NCAA transfer rules.