By Kim J. Harmon

 

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – There was a time not so long ago when Lisa Masella wasn’t sure she had the stuff to play college basketball or even the desire necessary to make that kind of commitment.

But here she is now, a junior co-captain at Western New England College and the absolute foundation of the Golden Bears’ offense.

“I think about it sometimes … at night,” said Masella. “I think – what’s going on?”

That’s not a hard question to answer, not for anyone who recognized the potential nine years ago of an amazingly raw Newtown Middle School sixth-grader who first experienced the game of basketball on a travel team coached by Dr Henry Gellert.

“Right away I thought it was cool,” said Masella, “but now it’s become a way of life.”

While playing on her travel team and at the Newtown Middle School, Masella developed quickly and once she reached Newtown High School, Masella became a major post player for head coach Gregg Simon. As a sophomore, Masella – playing center in the absence of the injured Amanda Marsilio – helped lead the Lady Nighthawks to a South-West Conference championship in 1999-2000. For her career, she canned 737 points and finished 10th on the all-time scoring list.

But that could have been it. Even as she wrestled with her doubts about whether or not collegiate basketball was in her future, she sent a tape to coach Wendy Davis and eventually decided to give it a go and see what happened.

“I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it,” said Masella, “but I met the girls and my best friend, Jess (Harrica), and I knew that I loved it. It helps, in college, to find out where you fit in. With a small college, there is a lot of support.”

And from the moment she stepped on the basketball court at WNEC the six-foot center was an impact player and even though head coach Wendy Davis may have had her doubts about Masella early on, it didn’t take long for the Newtown High School graduate to open her eyes.

“My coach told me not to expect anything,” Masella said of her freshman orientation into collegiate basketball. “She told me I would probably sit on the bench – but I started right away. And it was a wakeup call when the coach pointed out that (the guards) had to find me.”

As a freshman, Masella played in all 28 games and canned a team-high 387 points (13.8 per game) and while popping in 152 field goals she was also 83-of-142 from the free throw line. She credits Harrica for a lot of that success.

“Jessica is a rare point guard who would rather pass than score,” said Masella, “and she always found me.”

After leading the Golden Bears into the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship game (while being ranked third in the conference) in her freshman year, Masella came back as a sophomore and was just as steady – even more so. As the Golden Bears went 16-10 and reached the quarterfinals of the GNAC Tournament (where they lost to archrival Albertus Magnus), Masella scored 12.7 points per game and dragged down 10.0 rebounds per game. And after scoring in double figures 21 times and recording 11 double-doubles she was named to the 2004 All-GNAC Second Team for the second consecutive year.

Through five games in the present 2004-05 season, Masella – still the smallest center in the GNAC – is once-again averaging a double-double with a team-high 10.8 points per game and a team-high 12.6 rebounds per game.

Heading into the holiday break last month, the Golden Bears – who lost Harrica, their star point guard, for the season with a torn Achilles tendon – were sitting at 2-3.

“We’ve only played five games,” said Masella, “but we had something like 20 games left and we have a lot of time to improve. Our team likes to win, but we also enjoy the atmosphere and we play our best basketball when we’re having fun.”

Despite the sluggish start, Masella has been in mid-season form and earned the GNAC Player Of The Week award on Monday, December 6. In a three-game set – which included a pair of games in the All-Pioneer Valley Hoop Classic – Masella averaged 11.7 points per game and 15.0 rebounds per game. In a 64-52 win over Westfield State, she scored 13 points and pulled down a tournament-record 19 rebounds (the 23rd double-double of her career).

Before the end of the 2004-05 season, she will have likely scored her 1,000th career point for the Golden Bears and before her career ends in the 2005-06 season she will have likely grabbed her 1,000th career rebound.

“Getting my 1,000th rebound is my ultimate goal,” said Masella.

Not bad for someone who wasn’t sure she even wanted to do this, huh?

NOTE: Through the first five games of the 2004-05 season, Lisa Masella has pulled down 25 offensive rebounds – 17 more than the next-best rebounder … Masella is shooting 25-of-49 from the field and is second in the team with a .510 shooting percentage … Western New England College will be visiting Western Connecticut State University on Thursday, January 27, for a 7 pm tip.