FEATURE Something About Mary Freshman Point Guard Leads Hoyas By Derek Richmond Special to The Hoya

Daily Orange /The Hoya Mary Lisicky drives past St. John’s guard Kenyawn Hudgens. Lisicky has stepped into a prominent role in her freshman season.

Ask Georgetown women’s basketball Head Coach Pat Knapp whether freshman starter Mary Lisicky fills the empty shoes left by last year’s point guard, and he will simply say “no.”

Not because Lisicky has not adequately filled the void left when last year’s standout point guard, Katie Smrcka-Duffy, was drafted to the WNBA, but because she has not been asked to fill anyone’s shoes – except her own. She has been called to start each of the Hoya’s 19 games and has become a leader on the hardwood.

“She’s filling nobody’s shoes. She was asked to come in and be our point guard – give the ball to people who are open, and if they’re not open, shoot the ball [her]self. She gets the ball to people who are open,” Knapp said.

Hailing from Whitehall, Pa., Lisicky is the youngest of eight children and not the first in her family to participate in intercollegiate athletics. In fact, she grew up around sports. “I come from an athletic family,” she said. “We’ve all been involved in basketball, football any type of sport when we were in high school.”

Three of her brothers played NCAA basketball at Penn State, East Tennessee State and Scranton, respectively. Another brother played football at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been playing basketball since she was 5 years old and attributes her skills to the in-house league and hours of pickup games with her brothers.

“They always used to beat up on me [during pickup games] and I’d go in crying to my mom,” she said.

Knapp praised the fundamentals and experience these games instilled in Lisicky. “I’d like to congratulate her father and mother and her brothers for teaching her the game because they’ve done a heck of a job,” he said.

Playing at a Division I university is very different than family games in the driveway or even high school basketball, though. Lisicky said the biggest differences at the collegiate level are a faster-paced game, physically stronger players and different methods of pre-game preparation.

Lisicky has certainly risen to the higher level of play. She is currently ranked in the top five in the Big East in both three-point percentage and three-pointers made. She also appears on the Big East’s scoring leader board, averaging 12.2 points per game. She led the Hoyas with 12 points against perennial powerhouse and No.1-ranked Connecticut and 21 against District foe American, including a team record-tying seven three-pointers.

“She plays hard every play, and I think she has an immense amount of respect in the Big East. I think that she’s clearly an All-Rookie Team player right now,” Knapp said. “She’s not the kind of player you can ask to do everything, like take on the scoring load. I think she’s an ultimate team player. I don’t think you can ask her to do everything, and to be quite honest with you, we don’t want to go back there,” he said, referring to Smrcka-Duffy, last year’s scoring leader.

Lisicky may not actively be compared to any other player, but playing in such a high-profile position has been challenging, squaring off against UConn All-American Sue Bird and rising star Diana Taurasi as a freshman. The job comes with a lot of pressure, but Lisicky claims to be handling it well.

“It hasn’t been that tough. [The team has] accepted me as their leader on the floor,” Lisicky said. “I’m fitting in well. Everything’s just going great so far, I can’t ask for anything better.”

Knapp emphasized that Lisicky works well with the other players on the team and that she does what is needed for the team to succeed. “The bottom line is that her teammates really love playing with her,” he said.

“All the players around me are great,” Lisicky added. “You throw them a pass, they’re going to make [the shot]. I haven’t played with some people like that. I guess that’s why I came here . because I knew the type of players that were here and the chemistry that we could have and what we could do in the Big East Conference.”

Lisicky said that she is also here for an education.

Her father and two oldest brothers are accountants, and, though she has not declared a major yet, Lisicky is contemplating following in their footsteps. Her predecessor at point guard was drafted to the WNBA, but Lisicky says she is not looking that far into the future and that for now she just wants to learn all that she can.

“Georgetown pretty much had everything I wanted: playing in a big conference . being close to home. All the games we play are up and down the East Coast, and I wanted my family to come see me play every chance they could. And it’s got great academics,” she said. “If you get an education from Georgetown, you’re pretty much guaranteed a job doing whatever you want to do.”

As happy as Lisicky is to be at Georgetown, Georgetown seems just as happy to have her.

“She’s a great, great young lady. We’re very, very happy to have her here. She’s a fine student, tremendous family and one of our hardest workers,” said Knapp. At the same time, he emphasized that she still has a lot of potential for growth as a basketball player. While Lisicky is concentrating on her future as both a basketball player and a student, Knapp says there are a few things that are going to make her an even more valuable asset to the team in coming years.

“She’s going to improve. There are some ball-handling things she can improve on, maybe some speed things, but I think that Mary is going to get better the more that we put better and better players around her because that’s when she will really thrive.”

The obvious advantage of having a freshman as a starting point guard is the amount of minutes she has left to play for Knapp and the Hoyas in the next three seasons. More minutes translates to a better understanding of the offense and plenty of time to continue to improve on fundamentals. It also holds the promise of better communication with the coaching staff, something Knapp says he looks forward to.

“I have a lot of faith in her and one of the reasons is the communication is very truthful, it’s right on. Mary, do this – it’s done. I think that the next stage for her in terms of her development with me would be to ask more questions or give up more information because I like players that see things on the floor but then also will say things to the coach,” Knapp said. “I think that’s the next thing, through experience, that Mary will be able to do is communicate more in terms of feedback instead of just taking directions.”

Already Lisicky has improved her fundamental skills under Knapp. She talked about being beaten on defense when she first arrived at Georgetown and also spoke of working on her penetration skills as well.

“Offensively I think I want to work on some more moves to the basket instead of being just a three-point shooter,” she said.

Her positive outlook is evident in the way she talks about her hopes for the team, the coaching staff and Georgetown as a whole. Yet rather than having to fill the shoes of a player who came before her, she looks to the future and sees potential in the team she leads.

Knapp said that her consistency may make her the team’s VP, but Lisicky said, “I’m just trying to be myself, do the things I can do and help the team.”