November 25, 2003

     Yale senior point guard Brynn Gingras of Wallingford and her Bulldogs teammates have something to prove this season.
     "We have to prove what we came in as a freshmen wanting to prove "that we can win an Ivy League championship," Gingras said. "There's a sense of urgency among the seniors."
     It was a long, cold winter for the Elis a season ago. Yale finished last in the Ivy League with a 3-11 conference record. The team, 6-21 overall, was decimated by injuries. Gingras, the team captain this season, missed 10 games with a broken thumb.
     "I think she was just coming into her own last year as a junior and she missed a majority of the season after she took a charge and broke a thumb," Yale coach Amy Backus said. "Brynn's our starting point guard. We're expecting our team, as a healthy team, to make a big leap from where we were last year. It was a disappointing year. It was a difficult year."
     "We expect Brynn to be in that leadership role, not only as a point guard but as a captain to make sure everybody's on the same page and that we're mentally tough to overcome the disappointments that we had last year. We have five freshmen that are going to contribute. We have size this year that we didn't have last year. We are already a much different team."
     Backus and Gingras, a former standout at Lyman Hall, said they hope the freshmen Chinenye Okafor, Eleanor Miller, Julie Mantilla, Erica Davis and Kaitlin Emmerling will be able to mesh with Yale's five returning starters: Gingras, guards Morgan Richards and Tory Mauseth, and forwards Christina Phillips and Lindsay Page.
     "Our team is extremely talented this year," Gingras said. "We have great diversity. The freshmen came in extremely athletic, strong and talented."
     The sophomores and juniors "got a lot of playing time last year because of injuries. Our seniors have so much experience and knowledge of the game. Hopefully, we'll be able to pull all of that together. We have a different focus this year."
     Gingras averaged 6.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2 assists over 17 games last season. The injury hampered her play, but she said a trip the team took to Australia in May should pay huge dividends.
     "Mentally, I was able to put the injury behind me," she said. "I missed, basically, the whole Ivy League season, so I didn't get to prove how I've improved different aspects of my game."
     Gingras started all 27 games for Yale as a sophomore, hitting double-digit scoring five times. During the 2000-2001 season, she played in more games than any other freshman on the team and averaged 5.8 points.
     A a four-year letter winner at Lyman Hall, Gingras became the school's career scoring leader with 1,209 points. That total was later eclipsed by Jenn Piazza.
     "Brynn got thrown into the fire early as a freshman due to some injuries," Backus said. "She wasn't quite ready for it as a freshman, but she has really progressed. At that point, we knew she wasn't strong enough, probably not quick enough and probably not ready for the college game; but over the years she's really turned into a very consistent passer, scorer and good defender. She was injured most of last year and that really hurt as we didn't have a solid, true point guard as a backup. This year, knock on wood, we've got to have Brynn stay healthy."
     Backus said the 5-foot-7 Gingras has done a great job in the weight room.
     "Brynn was kind of a scrawny little kid, but she's much more confident as a leader and as a player," the coach said. "Now she truly believes she's capable of leading this team and playing in this league. She's able to bang around and compete a little bit better at this level."
     Gingras is the consummate point guard, Backus said.
     "She's definitely pass first, score second," she said. "Brynn has a great looking jump shot and is a very good 3-point shooter. She probably doesn't use that enough. She's probably a little bit too unselfish in that respect."
     "Brynn's a hard worker. You're not going to look at Brynn and see a flashy, flashy point guard, but she's doing a better job of seeing the floor. We want to run a little bit more this year. Those are things we want her to improve on."
     Gingras is not concerned with her scoring average.
     "I just have to be a leader out there and step up my game, both offensively and defensively," she said. "I know if I have the shot I've never been too shy to take it, but I'm the type of point guard that looks for her teammates rather than her own shot. That's how I've been since I was 10 years old."
     That attitude is one reason Gingras was named captain on a team with six seniors. She is one of only two players from Connecticut on Yale's roster. Her parents, Mark and Christine, have sort of adopted the Yale women's and men's basketball teams.
     "It's been really special for us because she is a local kid," Backus said. "We always know we have a home to go to because they are so close. Those are the intangibles that have benefited our team unit."
     The Gingrases have invited the players to their Wallingford home for pool parties and for Easter and New Year's Day dinners. They also travel to all of Yale's games, along with Brynn Gingras' grandparents, Mickey and Jo Geremia, and her sister, Margaux.
     "They're a great bunch of kids," Mark Gingras said, adding that his family is looking forward to following the women to tournaments in Seattle and New Orleans this season.
     "A lot of them are a long distance from home. It's kind of nice to have a home-cooked meal and sit down on the couch and relax. They are all great kids; really well-rounded kids academically and athletically. They get along well."
     An American studies major who hopes to enter broadcast journalism, Gingras is amazed at how fast her first three years at Yale went by. She's banking on a big senior season.
     "I definitely think we can compete for the Ivy League," she said.