Journey with Kearney
Lady Flames redshirt senior post player having career year in her final season
It may come as a shock, but Catherine Kearney did not always want to play basketball. As a young girl, she wanted to be a ballerina, but a summer growth spurt combined with a knack for scoring brought her into basketball.
Too much — Catherine Kearney’s height poses a big problem for opponents. Photo credit: Michela Diddle
Born into a basketball family, Kearney started playing in first grade, but never really had a passion for it until middle school. In the summer of 2007, just before her freshman year of high school, she grew five inches, which changed a few things. The average height of an American woman is 5 feet, 5 inches tall. Kearney currently stands at 6 feet, 6 inches.
After finishing her high school career at Gloucester County (Monroeville, New Jersey) Christian School with 2,011 points and more than 1,000 rebounds, Kearney came to Liberty in 2011 to play for the Lady Flames. She said it was largely the people that brought her to Liberty.
“When I came (to Liberty), I just knew,” Kearney said. “I went to a small Christian school and I really wanted the same values in college. And the fact that I could play at a DI level at a Christian college was huge for me.”
Kearney, now a redshirt senior, has played in 114 games for the Lady Flames and is a regular starter for the first time in her collegiate career this season. She was named Big South Player of the Week for the first time in her career Jan. 25.
Ashley Rininger went down with a knee injury against Duke Dec. 17, 2015, leaving the Lady Flames without their leading scorer and needing someone to fill the void left by the preseason Big South Player of the Year. So Kearney stepped up.
“I don’t think I ever felt like it would just be me,” Kearney said. “I think we all just felt that overall as a team we had to step up. I mean, we already push each other in practice everyday.”
Kearney is modest, but her numbers were not. During the missed from Dec. 19-Jan. 26, Kearney averaged 15.9 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game while shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the foul line. She also scored at least 20 points four times in that span and the Lady Flames went 8-1.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Lady Flames Assistant Coach Alexis Sherard said. “The numbers especially were, and she’s capable of doing that. And now with Ashley back, the hope is to have two prolific scorers inside, which of course only helps our team.”
Kearney is the third-tallest player in Liberty women’s basketball history, but obviously, a player needs more than height alone to be successful in a sport such as basketball. Kearney’s parents, Steve and Kate, who both played collegiate basketball at Saint Joseph’s, are the people she points to as having the biggest impact on her both as an athlete and as a person.
“I always know I’m going to have a text from them after every game, and they’ll always have pointers for me,” Kearney said. “Just knowing that they always have my best interest in mind has really helped me as a player … and they’ve always been so supportive of me as a player and off the court as well.”
Kearney graduated with a degree in Sports Management in May 2014 and is currently working on her master’s in Human Services with a concentration in Executive Leadership. She said her future plans are unclear right now, but she hopes to one day work at the collegiate athletics level in basketball operations. Sherard, who works mainly with the post players, said he has seen tremendous progression from Kearney over the years.
“(Kearney has) gotten stronger,” Sherard said. “And I think she has matured in just understanding the game. She has embraced her role (on the team), and her role has changed over the course of (this) year, especially recently with Ashley being injured, her role has changed dramatically. And she’s developed very well too. I mean, she’s a fifth-year kid, and if over the course of five years she’s not where she needs to be, then we’re not doing our job.”
Kearney has won three Big South championships with the Lady Flames and is hoping for a fourth this season, along with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Carey Green’s squad has won seven straight and 11 of its last 12 games since starting the season 2-8, and Kearney has been a vital part of the turnaround. So while the Lady Flames roll on, Kearney will continue to stay the course and work on her outside jump shot.
The Lady Flames next game will be against Campbell in the Vines Center Tuesday, Feb. 9. The Lady Flames defeated the Camels, 62-52, in their last meeting Dec. 29 in Buies Creek, N.C. Kearney tied her career-high with 22 points in that game and added 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Liberty has won the last four meetings between the two teams.
VANDENBOSCH is the sports editor.