Photo: Courtesy of BC Athletics

SPORTS

Coach Mac Is ACC Coach of the Year

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee transformed the BC Women's Basketball program and became a beloved motivator for her players along the way.

When Joanna Bernabei-McNamee took over as head coach of the women’s basketball team in 2018, she inherited a program that had finished a disappointing 7–23 the previous season, including a dismal 2–14 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. But Bernabei-McNamee—known to one and all as Coach Mac—had a plan to turn things around. The team would work hard, keep a positive attitude, hold each other accountable, and show respect. “Anything besides this is unacceptable,” she told her players.

In her first year, the Eagles won fourteen games, though their 3–13 conference record left them thirteenth among the ACC’s fifteen teams. And that’s just where the team was expected to finish the 2019–20 season as well, according to a preseason poll. Instead, the Eagles finished the regular season with a 20–12 record, including an impressive 11–7 showing in ACC play that tied for fourth place in the conference. 

The performance resulted in Coach Mac being named ACC Coach of the Year in March. 

However, when the postseason was canceled due to the coronavirus, it denied the Eagles what was likely to have been their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2005—a painful outcome for seniors such as Emma Guy ’20. “The postseason lifts, the summer workouts, and the preseason practices are all so you can showcase your hard work at the Big Dance,” Guy said. “Having that moment finally come into reality only for it to be taken away was heartbreaking.” Knowing this pandemic is bigger than sports doesn’t make it hurt any less, Bernabei-McNamee said. “We need to find a positive in this,” she added, “so we decided that BC could’ve won the women’s basketball national championship this year.” Not surprisingly, Coach Mac regards her ACC award as a reflection of her entire team’s hard work. The Eagles will use their lost tournament shot as fuel next year, she said: “We’ll never take the opportunity to play the game we love or the time we have together for granted again.” ◽

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On March 17, the Atlantic Coast Conference canceled athletic activities through the end of the 2019–20 academic year in response to the novel coronavirus. Here are two notable achievements from before the shutdown: 

Parker Biele leaning in to a turn

Alpine ski team co-captain Parker Biele ’21. Photo: Courtesy of BC Athletics

Alpine ski team co-captain Parker Biele ’21 became the first BC woman to qualify for the NCAA Skiing Championships. “It’s been a goal I’ve been striving for from the second I got into BC,” Biele said. Head Coach Chuck Carmone said it was well deserved. “No one sacrifices and works harder than Parker,” he said. “She’s eliminated everything in her life that doesn’t make her faster, stays focused on her goals, and attacks her detailed plan with everything she has.” Biele finished eighteenth overall in the giant slalom at the event. The next day, the rest of the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. 

Men’s hockey forward Alex Newhook ’23 and women’s hockey forward Hannah Bilka ’23 each received the NCAA Division I National Rookie of the Year award. The picks marked the first time that a school has won both the men’s and women’s awards in the same year. Newhook’s nineteen goals and four game-winning goals led all NCAA freshmen. Bilka, meanwhile, led BC in scoring, and her nineteen assists and three game-winning goals were the most of any Hockey East freshman. 

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