She’s a natural
born winner

By Joe Mason
For the Times

Christine McCollum knew coming into the winter what it was like to win.
Now she knows what it’s like to win at the college level.
McCollum, a 2006 graduate of St. Basil Academy, decided to continue her basketball career at Holy Family University.
She entered college this year with an impressive basketball resume.
During her junior year, she helped the Panthers win the District 1 crown, the Catholic Academies title and advance to the state championship game.
She also was a star volleyball player at Basil, so success wasn’t new to McCollum when she enrolled at Holy Family.
"Basil’s was great because we had a lot of success there," said McCollum, a resident of Abington. "That school prepared me academically and athletically for Holy Family."
As for the academics, McCollum maintains a 3.8 grade-point average, so she’s certainly holding her own.
She’s doing just as well on the court.
Despite playing on a team that had a wealth of experience and even more talent, McCollum managed to see significant time during her first year in school, averaging more than 20 minutes per contest.
She also took advantage of that valuable playing time.
McCollum, the first player off the bench in most games, scored better than six points per game and grabbed close to five rebounds.
She also handed out 2.1 assists per contest.
Those stats helped the Tigers put together a fantastic season this year — a season that came to an end on March 10 when Holy Family fell to Southern Connecticut State, 68-51, in the second round of the NCAA Division 2 Women’s Basketball Northeast regional game at the James Moore Fieldhouse in New Haven, Conn.
Holy Family entered the game as the ninth-ranked team in the country, but the Owls used a 13-0 run late in the first half to take a commanding 11-point lead.
The setback ended a season that saw the Tigers win 30 of their 33 games. In the process, McCollum learned a great deal about herself, basketball and what it feels like to excel at the college level.
"This was an unbelievable year. I think we achieved a lot, just not as much as we wanted to," said McCollum, who scored five points and grabbed five rebounds in the loss. "This was a fun year, but there’s a lot of things I’m really happy about.
"I think I learned a lot, so much, this year just by playing and practicing at this level," McCollum continued. "There was so much I learned. I mean, I played basketball my whole life, so I knew what I was doing, but now I really think I’m a much more well-rounded basketball player, and that has everything to do with playing with these girls."
That should continue.
Despite being extremely successful this year, the Tigers also were extremely young. This year’s squad consisted of 14 players. Next year, 11 will return when camp opens.
But they won’t be the same team.
Next year’s team will have 11 players who know what it’s like to win 30 games.
This year, Holy Family was the first team ever to win all 22 of its Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference regular-season games and then go on to win the CACC postseason tournament.
This year, the Tigers also won 25 games for the 12th straight season.
The women accomplished a lot. And next year, the bar could be raised yet again. But they will have to do it without center Megan Bauer, forward Lindsay Sock and guard Kim Killion.
"Those three were great, we’ll really miss them," McCollum said. "They were all great players, but the thing that made them so valuable was their ability to lead, especially by example.
"The coaches were very good, but the seniors really led us," noted McCollum, who served as a captain at Basil. "But we learned a lot from them, and that should help us. If we can take over where they left off, then we should be in great shape next year."
The players aren’t the only ones who will be back. At least that’s what McCollum is hoping.
All year, the Tigers could count on the support of their fans.
When Holy Family had a home game, the Student Center was filled to capacity.
And on March 10, when Holy Family had to travel three hours north of Grant and Frankford, the Tigers’ supporters made the trip with them.
"It was pretty cool, pretty amazing to have the fans there with us," McCollum said. "I guess there were at least fifty people, maybe more. And that was good because we had the furthest trip to Connecticut, so it was nice to hear people cheering for us."
Next year, McCollum hopes her team will hear applause all the way to a national title.
"I think we learned a lot this year and we’ll have a lot of talent back next year," McCollum said. "This year was great, but next year could be better. We just have to make sure to work hard and try to keep getting better." ••