During Midnight Madness, Georgetown’s women’s basketball head coach, Terri Williams-Flournoy, chose one player in particular to address the mad crowd of fans packed into McDonough Gymnasium. This vocal player addressed the crowd adamantly, praising her team and imploring the fans to come out and support the women just as they do the men’s team. It’s no wonder Williams-Flournoy picked senior co-captain Kate Carlin for the job.
On the eve of her last season at Georgetown, Carlin is prepared to lead and take charge. After three years on the Hilltop, she possesses something that many of her teammates (besides her fellow co-captains, junior guard Kristin Heidloff and junior forward Kieraah Marlow) do not: experience.
The Lady Hoyas feature five freshmen and two new transfers. While there are several teams in the Big East that are rebuilding, Georgetown is in a unique situation. Carlin is Georgetown’s only senior. Nevertheless Carlin is ready to play, ready to lead and, most importantly, ready to win games.
“Obviously, I worked really hard over the summer to make my senior year the best it can be,” Carlin said. “This is my last go-around. I guess I just want to go in and work hard to do the best that I can do to help the team get better and to win. I have yet to have a winning season here at Georgetown. I feel that with the caliber of play that we have and the type of people that we have here that I’m hoping as a senior I can go out above .500.”
One characteristic of being a good leader is leading by example and earning the respect of one’s teammates.
“Kate — being our only senior — she’s the one that we all look up to and model ourselves after,” Marlow said of Carlin’s leadership credentials. “Kate’s been here; it’s her fourth year. She is a veteran here. She’s a great leader on and off the court.”
Being the only senior on a team is always a daunting task. Carlin, though, has five freshmen to take under her wing as well. Carlin has welcomed and embraced the challenge by remembering and relating the challenges she went through during her first few years here.
“Coming in as a freshman, I had three other kids with me, and now I’m leaving, and I’m the only one,” Carlin recalled. “It’s kind of weird. I feel like a mother hen watching seven, eight little chicks run around. They’re new to college. They’re new to basketball. They’re new to being on their own. They’re new to school. They’re new to everything.”
While the Lady Hoyas will be a young, inexperienced team, there is a lot to look forward to this season. With a relatively easy non-conference schedule, a larger roster and their senior leader in command, the Hoyas expect to be much improved. Much of the team’s success will be dependent on her ability to help show her younger teammates the way.
“She’s a senior, and she’s been here for four years,” Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said of her captain. “She knows the Big East, and she brings in a lot of experience. She brings in that leadership that she is able to explain and help the freshmen and just give a good example for practice with what drills we are running.”
So far Carlin has shown she is ready to step up as leader off the court, but the Lady Hoyas will also need her to be a major contributor on it. Last year Kate started in 21 games, averaging 9.4 points per game. This year Kate expects those numbers to increase, especially with the work she has put in on her outside shooting.
“I’d like to say pretty good,” Carlin said of her three-point shot. “I don’t want to be negative. Always I can get better. My shot in practice, shooting the ball, I feel confident shooting the ball.”
Still, while the future is bright, the climb back to respectability will be an arduous one. Coming off a 10-17 season (3-13 BE), there is much to improve upon. Carlin hopes she can help the Hoyas improve this season, so she can go out a winner.
