Christie Marrone (Brooklyn, NY) of the Women's Basketball team
was recently featured in Monday's issue of the New York
Times. See the below article written by Brian Heyman.
Link
to New York Times Article
OAKDALE, N.Y. - Defense suddenly turned to offense, and Christie
Marrone was off, a 5-foot-6 blur of gold, navy and white, dribbling
furiously down the court with the basketball she had just stolen.
She finally delivered a nifty no-look pass to complete the
two-on-one break.
Fewer than 100 fans saw it Wednesday night, sitting in the six sections of five-row wooden bleachers inside Dowling College's small gym on the South Shore of Long Island. It seemed so far away from those Atlantic Coast Conference arenas in which Marrone used to play for Virginia Tech and Maryland. But Marrone, a guard from Brooklyn, was in her element.
"It's great playing against Duke, playing in front of 18,000 fans, but playing at Dowling, it's home," Marrone said after contributing 15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals in a 54-43 victory against Queens College. "I feel more comfortable at Dowling. It's always been my favorite, playing in small arenas where it's so tight, you feel like the crowd's on top of you."
In her sixth year of college and second year playing for her third team, Marrone is again the star that she was in high school - but on the smaller scale of N.C.A.A. Division II instead of the big time of Division I.
"I'm finally comfortable," said Marrone, who had been playing lately with a broken rib. "I'm finally back in rhythm. Over the summer, I don't think I ever worked so hard."
She is a captain playing more point guard than shooting guard and averaging a team-leading 17.3 points, along with 6.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.2 steals, in Dowling's 8-3 start. Last season, she averaged 13.5 points in helping turn the Golden Lions into the second-most-improved team in Division II, going from 9-19 to 22-8.
Off the court, Marrone plays the role of big sister to her teammates as a 23-year-old graduate student in banking and finance.
"She makes sure everyone's taken care of," said Michele Yawn, a graduate assistant who played with Marrone last season. "If she needs to pick up someone for practice, she picks them up for practice. If somebody needs to go to the doctor, she takes them to the doctor."
The players still dish out some good-natured teasing.
"She's the grandmother of the team," said Dearbhna Coen, a senior forward. "She gets hurt a lot. She's just old. This is her sixth year of college. She's been around for a long time."
As a high school freshman at St. John Villa Academy on Staten Island, Marrone was the most valuable player in the Class C state and federation title games. Queens Coach Tom Flahive saw her play that season when he was an assistant at Montclair State. "So I've known her since she was a baby," he said. "She has that unbelievably quick release. You just can't defend that."
After becoming New York's Class B player of the year as a junior and scoring more than 1,800 points in her high school career, Marrone moved on to Virginia Tech.
After serving as one of the top reserves and being named the team's rookie of the year, she moved on again. Her father, Tony, developed prostate cancer, and she wanted to be a little closer to home. So she went to Maryland, which recruited her previously and had a few players she knew.
But as a transfer, Marrone had to redshirt for that 2005-6 season. That was the season Maryland won the national championship, but Marrone could only practice. Her championship ring is in a safe-deposit box.
"It was frustrating, of course," Marrone said. "But I felt every bit a part of that team."
The next season, she averaged just 2.5 points and 11 minutes before sustaining a stress fracture in her left foot and sitting out the postseason. She played in one exhibition before the 2007-8 season, but the stress fracture was back and she sat the rest of the way, although she said she was not officially redshirted this time.
Marrone graduated with a degree in criminal justice, yet still wanted to play. She said she needed a change. She knew a player at Dowling and Coach Joe Pellicane, who recruited her out of high school as an assistant at St. John's. And it was close to home.
The N.C.A.A. granted a medical hardship waiver in May 2008, then a waiver last spring of the 10-semester limit that applies in Division II, so Marrone could use her fourth season of eligibility in a sixth year.
"She's a wonderful shooter," Pellicane said. "She's also a wonderful passer.
"She never has looked at her teammates and said: ‘I'm Christie Marrone from Maryland. I was on the team that won the national championship.' She has been a terrific teammate and a joy for me to coach."
Marrone said she planned to play professionally overseas and coach at the college level.
"There have been a lot of bumps, but a lot of learning experiences," she said. "It made me the person I am today."
