There are many former FCIAC girls basketball players who had successful careers in high school and plenty of them have continued to pursue their passion for hoops as student-athletes at their respective colleges.
Sixteen of those women’s college basketball players are listed under which high school they each graduated from along with their respective statistics and highlights for their respective colleges this past winter sports season:
DARIEN
Kate Bushell completed her four-year career by averaging 2.4 points per game while starting in five of the 90 games she played at Hamilton College. The 5-foot-11 guard/forward averaged 2.3 points during this past senior season after she averaged 2.9 points the previous season as a junior. Most impressive was that Bushell was selected to the 2015 NESCAC Winter All-Academic Team.
DANBURY
Allie Smith was a 5-foot-10 sophomore forward who played in 14 games coming off the bench for Southern Connecticut State University after having seen action in nine games as a freshman the previous year. Smith was named MVP of the 2014 FCIAC girls basketball championship game and she was selected to the 2014-15 All-FCIAC Second Team.
FAIRFIELD LUDLOWE
Alex McKinnon averaged 3.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 14 minutes per game as a valuable 6-foot-1 freshman forward coming off the bench who helped lead Montclair State University to an excellent season in which the Red Hawks finished 26-3.
McKinnon had a very good game when she sank 5-of-7 from the field, scored 13 points, snatched three rebounds and dished out a team-high five assists in 24 minutes in a 77-63 victory over New Jersey City on Jan. 4. She was selected to the 2015-16 All-FCIAC Second Team a year after she made the 2014-15 All-FCIAC Third Team as a junior.
Caroline Pangallo was a 5-foot-7 sophomore guard who started in two of the 25 games and averaged 16.6 minutes per game to help Connecticut College finish with a solid 16-9 season. Pangallo averaged 3.5 points per game this season and has averaged 3.1 points and 16 minutes per game in her first two years.
Pangallo scored a season-high 18 points when she sank 6-of-8 field goals, including 4-of-6 three-pointers, and also contributed four rebounds and two assists in an 89-40 victory at Mitchell on Jan. 3. She made the 2014-15 All-FCIAC Second Team as a senior at Ludlowe.
GREENWICH
Abbie Wolf played in the Big 10 as a 6-foot-4 freshman forward/center for Northwestern University.
She played in 18 games coming off the bench and averaged 4.4 minutes, 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game and also blocked a total of seven shots.
Wolf scored the first nine points of her career against De Paul on Nov. 19 and she also matched the season-high of nine points along with grabbing four rebounds against Evansville on Nov. 27. She was selected to the All-FCIAC First Team three consecutive years from 2014-16.
Caroline Barrett averaged 4.5 points, 3.1 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game in 22 games as a 5-foot-7 senior guard for Hamilton College. Barrett started in 55 of 85 games and averaged 4.7 points for her career. Two years ago as a sophomore she started in 22 of 24 games and averaged a career-high 5.8 points.
Jamie Kockenmester was a 5-foot-9 sophomore who played in 27 games for the University of Chicago and averaged 2.7 points, 1.0 rebounds and 8.3 minutes per game. When Kockenmeister was a senior at Greenwich she made the 2014-15 All-FCIAC Second Team.
ST. JOSEPH
Bridget Sharnick was a 5-foot-9 sophomore forward at Southern Connecticut State University who did not see any game action for the Owls. She previously attended Molloy College after a stellar high school career in which she made the 2013-14 All-FCIAC Second Team and then the 2014-15 All-FCIAC First Team.
STAMFORD
Kelsey Santagata was a a 5-foot-10 first-year transfer sophomore forward who started in 21 of 25 games for Eastern Connecticut State University and averaged 10.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 26.5 minutes per game. Santagata began her career at ECSU by collecting 12 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals in just 11 minutes of action while helping lead the Warriors to an 84-40 victory over Fisher College.
Santagata, who made the 2012-13 All-FCIAC First Team as a junior and then made the 2013-14 All-FCIAC Second Team as a senior, first enrolled at Keene State and averaged 6.8 points and 2.6 rebounds there while starting in four of eight games during the fall semester of the 2014-15 season.
TRINITY CATHOLIC
Ali Palma started and played in 14 games during the last year of her career as a 6-foot senior forward for Franklin Pierce. Palma averaged a personal-best 5.5 points per game and she reached double digits in rebounds in three games en route to leading the Ravens with her season’s average of 7.6 rebounds per game. She averaged 32.8 minutes per game.
Palma scored her season-high 12 points against Assumption and she snatched five offensive rebounds among her season-high 14 rebounds against Merrimack. She started in 42 of the 99 games she played and averaged 4.4 points for her career. Palma made the 2012-13 All-FCIAC First Team as a senior after she was selected to the 2011-12 All-FCIAC Second Team as a junior.
TRUMBULL
Amanda Pfohl was a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard who played in 20 games coming off the bench for Southern Connecticut State University. She scored her season-high 11 points to help SCSU win at Southern New Hampshire University, 58-50, on Jan. 18 and averaged 1.9 points per game.
After Pfohl made the 2013-14 All-FCIAC Third Team as a sophomore she made the All-FCIAC First Team in both of her last two years at Trumbull.
Kate O’Leary started in 24 games as a 5-7 sophomore guard for the College of New Jersey and averaged 7.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 29.2 minutes per game. She has scored 271 points thus far two years into her career and averaged 5.5 points while starting in 24 of 49 games. O’Leary scored a season-high 15 points in the first game of her career last year when she averaged 3.8 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.
WESTHILL
Samantha Corsello started in 15 of 20 games and averaged 7.5 points and 21.2 minutes per game as a sophomore forward for the Penn State-Wilkes Barre branch. She has averaged 5.0 points while starting in 16 of the 43 games she has played in her two-year career.
WILTON
Erica Meyer was a 6-foot-3 sophomore forward for Providence College. Meyer, who was selected to the 2014-15 All-FCIAC Second Team, started in five of 23 games for the 12-18 Friars. She averaged 1.6 rebounds, 0.9 points and 11.3 minutes per game and was third on the team with nine blocked shots.
Haley English was a 5-foot-6 sophomore guard for Skidmore College who averaged 4.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 27.7 minutes per game.
That followed a solid freshman year when she made the 2015-16 Liberty League All-Rooke Team after she averaged 5.0 points and 3.0 assists while starting in 23 of 25 games.
English was selected to the 2014-15 All-FCIAC First Team as a senior a year after she made the 2013-14 All-FCIAC Third Team.
Erin Cunningham was a 5-foot-10 sophomore forward for Trinity College. She has averaged 5.3 points per game while starting in 20 of 45 games in the first two years of her career. Cunningham averaged 4.8 points while starting in 19 of 22 games this past season after she averaged 5.7 points in 23 games as a freshman.
Cunningham was selected All-State and to the 2013-14 All-FCIAC First Team while setting the Wilton High School career scoring record of 1,130 points.
