Former Stamford High School star Tiana England had an excellent sophomore season as the St. John’s University starting point guard to highlight the accomplishments of many former FCIAC high school girls’ basketball players who have continued as student-athletes at their respective colleges.
Those highlights are listed below underneath the high schools which the women graduated from, with those conference high schools in alphabetical order.
The names were obtained from the websites of colleges in the American Athletic Conference, America East Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, Big East Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Northeast Conference, Northeast 10 Conference; and from the other conferences the respective names were obtained from FCIAC coaches who did respond to requests for the submission of names and colleges of former conference players.
Danbury
Allie Smith was a 5-foot-10 senior forward for Southern Connecticut State University who averaged 6.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 28.2 minutes played per game. Smith played in all 29 games as she came off the bench in the first seven games until she was inserted into the starting lineup for the final 22 games. She scored a career-high 19 points during SCSU’s 67-59 loss at St. Thomas Aquinas on Jan. 5.
Rachel Gartner saw action in three games during her graduate student year as a 5-foot-7 guard for Saint Joseph’s University and averaged 4.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 17.3 minutes played per game. Gartner, selected MVP of the FCIAC Tournament during her sophomore and junior years in high school, played for Boston College from 2014-18 and served as a team captain for the 2017-18 season.
Fairfield Warde
Iliana Krasniqi started in two of the 27 games she appeared in as a 5-foot-10 sophomore center for Pace University and averaged 2.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. She had a season-high 12 points and six rebounds in a 79-45 victory against Concordia on Nov. 17. Iliana also earned recognition on the NE10’s Fall Academic Honor Roll.
Daja Polk and Shania Osborne were both sophomores and two of the leading scorers on the Massasoit Community College team which is among best junior college programs in the country. Polk started in all 11 games she played, was second on the team in scoring with her average of 18.2 points and the 5-foot-4 guard also grabbed 4.7 rebounds per game. Osborne played in all 23 games, starting in 15 of them. The 6-foot forward was third on the team in scoring with her 13.7 ppg average, second on the team with her average of 11.1 rebounds per game and Osborne was the team leader with 2.4 blocked shots per game.
Olivia Parisi had a solid freshman season as a 5-foot-11 forward for William Smith College. Parisi played in 24 games, including four starting assignments, and averaged 5.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 16.8 minutes played per game.
Greenwich
Abbie Wolf played in 36 games as a backup 6-foot-4 junior forward/center for Northwestern University and averaged 5.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 14 minutes played per game. Wolf had a season-high 17 points and 13 rebounds at Michigan on Jan. 8 when the Wildcats were nipped, 79-78, in an overtime thriller.
Jamie Kockenmeister started in all 26 games as she concluded her career at the University of Chicago. The 5-foot-9 senior guard scored a career-high 15 points against Rose-Hulman and Rochester and she averaged 7.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game. And she once again excelled in the classroom as she made the University Athletic Association All-Academic Team for the third consecutive year.
Kim Kockenmeister averaged 18.7 minutes played per game in the 26 games she saw action in as a backup 5-foot-8 freshman guard for Swarthmore College. She averaged 6.4 points and 2.7 rebounds per game and scored her career-high 14 points on Feb. 5 at Johns Hopkins.
Jayla Faison was a 5-foot-7 sophomore guard for Roanoke College who played in eight games off the bench and averaged 1.5 points and 6.1 minutes played per game.
Shaye Galleta was a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard who saw action in eight games for Babson College, averaging 2.0 points and 7.6 minutes played per game.
Ridgefield
Jess Camarda started in 14 of the 26 total games she played in as a 5-foot-6 junior point guard for Adelphi. She averaged 5.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Camarda scored a season-high 19 points Feb. 6 in a 72-60 victory over Le Moyne. She made the NE10 Academic Honor Roll.
Meaghan O’Hara played in all 26 games as a 5-foot-10 backup sophomore guard for the University of Chicago. She averaged 2.7 points and 8.6 minutes played per game and was selected to the University Athletic Association All-Academic Team.
St. Joseph
Bridget Sharnick was a 5-foot-9 redshirt junior forward who appeared in 19 games for Southern Connecticut State University and averaged 2.3 points and 5.6 minutes played per game.
Jacqueline Jozefick averaged 5.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 15.3 minutes played per game in 24 games as a 6-foot backup junior forward for Babson College.
Stamford
Tiana England was a 5-foot-7, redshirt sophomore point guard for St. John’s who made All-Big East Honorable Mention, an award which put her among the top 15 players in Big East Conference and was the highest postseason award on her team. The Big East leader in assists (5.7 apg) was the only conference player to rank inside the top 20 in the NCAA for assists and she was also selected to the All-Met First Team. England led the conference with her average of 36.9 minutes played per game and she also averaged 10.7 points and 3.5 rebounds. England’s excellent year followed up a very good first year for the Red Storm when she was a unanimous selection to the All-Big East Freshman Team. England has totaled 653 points and 347 assists during the first two years of her career.
Kelsey Santagata was a 5-foot-10 senior forward who completed her three-year career at Eastern Connecticut State University by averaging 9.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while starting in 16 of 27 games. She started in 63 of 78 games and averaged 10.2 points for her career, having averaged 10.6 as a sophomore and 10.7 as a junior.
Alexa Kellner was a 6-foot-1 freshman guard for Southern Connecticut State University.
Trumbull
Amanda Pfohl started in all 29 games as a 5-foot-8 senior guard for Southern Connecticut State University and was third on the team in scoring with her average of 13.8 points per game. Pfohl sank 5-of-7 three-pointers and 9-of-14 field goals when she scored 24 points and led the Owls to a 73-69 victory at Stonehill on Jan. 19. And then on Feb. 9 she drained 6-of-10 treys and fired in a career-high 28 points to lead SCSU to an 80-55 home victory over Saint Rose.
Julie Keckler started in 23 of 24 games as a 5-foot-6 freshman guard for Eastern Connecticut State University and averaged 7.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. This former MVP of the FCIAC Girls Basketball Tournament sank 8-of-10 shots from the field when she fired in a career-high 25 points while leading ECSU to a 75-70 home victory over UMass-Boston.
Claudia Tucci was a 6-foot-1 sophomore forward for Franklin Pierce who averaged 4.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 11.3 minutes per game as she started in one out of the 26 games she played.
Westhill
Edona Thaqi saw four minutes of action in three total games as a 5-foot-9 backup sophomore guard for Fordham. Last year Thaqi started in 15 of 32 games as a freshman at UConn-Avery Point and was second on the team in scoring with an average of 14.5 points per game.