The transition to a new college can be a difficult time for many, even athletes. Junior forward Macy McGlone started at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but she transferred to Eastern after two years.
McGlone in high school was looking at both Eastern and Milwaukee. Eastern women’s basketball Head Coach Matt Bollant knew McGlone’s high school coach and was trying to recruit McGlone heavily.
“We recruited Macy out of high school and then she decided she wanted to stay closer to home,” Bollant said, “and then she didn’t have a great experience there, so she went into the portal.”
McGlone came to Eastern last year and immediately made a big impact. McGlone averaged 13.2 points and 7.5 rebounds a game. With that stat line, she was able to make the first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference.
McGlone went through some transition pains, as most people do. She had to get acquainted with her new environment and new players. However, she made an impact on the floor immediately.
“I mean personally for me I worked a lot with the coaches,” McGlone said. “I feel like I improved my skills a lot and so I feel like there’s certain areas that I just got better at, and it made the season a lot better for me.”
She already had the skill to compete with the best, so getting settled with coaches and players was what needed to happen. In Milwaukee, she wasn’t able to do that but at Eastern, she was able to fit right in right away.
“I think she’s just really talented and I think the one thing is that she needs to feel comfortable to play well and I think our environment [at Eastern] is as good as any division one basketball program in the country.” Bollant said, “Our culture is really, really good. We have great young ladies and a great coaching staff that treat people well and I think she just thrived in that environment that felt comfortable and then she got better and better throughout the year.”
McGlone has fit right in at Eastern and she is currently averaging 16.3 points and 9.3 rebounds a game and has a shooting percentage of 56.8%. Even though the rest of Eastern basketball has started slow, going 1-5 so far, McGlone has not.
“I think we just realized that although we’re losing, I think we’ve learned something from every loss,” McGlone said. “I think we’re just struggling to put that last piece together, but I think once we figure that out, we’re going to be pretty good. We just need to get it all together.”
Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.
