[Young Drachma]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps...ont-boys_N.htm

Hannah McNulty
more than holds her
own for Vt. boys
team

Posted 3/6/2011 3:42:33 PM |

By Andy Gardiner, USA TODAY

STOWE, Vt. — A senior season that took a
historic turn for Hannah McNulty could end
Tuesday when Stowe plays Thetford in the
opening round of the Vermont Division III
basketball playoffs. The 13th-seeded
Raiders endured a 2-18 regular season
and are heavy underdogs against the No. 4
Panthers (14-6).

But McNulty won't be playing in the girls
tournament; she will be a starting guard for
Stowe in the boys playoffs. Vermont has had
girls play on boys hockey teams and even in
football. Last week Rachel Hale of Mount
Anthony became the first girl to win a state
title in wrestling.

But McNulty is the first girl to play boys
basketball.

McNulty was a three-year starter on Stowe's
girls team, piling up 685 points. She hoped
to reach the 1,000-point career mark this
season at Stowe, one of Vermont's smaller
high schools with an enrollment of 107 girls
and 119 boys.

But a perfect storm of injuries and academic
ineligibilities forced the girls team to
abandon the season after one game.

McNulty had three options: give up her
senior season, petition for permission to
play at a neighboring school or attempt to
play for the boys team at Stowe.

McNulty had friends who played at nearby
Lamoille Union in Hyde Park and Peoples
Academy in Morrisville. But because of
Vermont Principals Association guidelines,
she would have had to play on the junior
varsity at those schools.

Veteran Stowe boys coach Evans Bouchard
had coached both of McNulty's brothers and
known Hannah since she was a sixth grader
tagging along to her brothers' practices. He
offered her a place on his team.

"In my mind, knowing Hannah, it wasn't a
hard decision," Bouchard said. "I knew she
could handle the defensive part. But I
worried that offensively, the boys would be
too fast for her."

McNulty was apprehensive, but determined.
She will play at Suffolk University in Boston
next season and did not want to waste any
chance to improve.

"I wasn't sure I how I would do with the
physical aspect and the speed," she said.
"But my first love is basketball, and I just
couldn't walk away from it. So I decided to try
to earn my spot on the team."

Bouchard inserted her in the starting lineup
after three games, where she has stayed,
averaging 5.2 points.

"Hannah knew she had to earn playing time,
and she came in and went to work,"
Bouchard said. "She has brought a lot of
energy to our team, and opposing coaches
know now she is not just a girl on the boys
team."

McNulty was the goalie on Stowe's girls
soccer team that won its first state title this
year, winning all three playoff games in
penalty kick shootouts. She'll play soccer
and basketball at Division III Suffolk next
year.

"I think she's a great fit and a great catch for
us," said Suffolk women's basketball coach
Ed Leyden. "I give Hannah a lot of credit for
taking the road less traveled. It seems like
I'm getting a kid with confidence, courage
and a sense of humor."

McNulty has pushed the thought that this
might be the end of her high school career
to the back of her mind: "Just being able to
play this year in the sport I love the most is
most important."