(Photo Credit: GoBonnies.com)

St. Bonaventure women’s basketball forward Katie Healy has been voted the Intrepid’s inaugural Female Athlete of the Year.

The award was voted on by 13 Intrepid sports staffers, who were allowed to select any Division I Bona athlete. Healy received seven votes, while teammate Miranda Drummond received two votes and four athletes received one vote each: senior soccer player Lauren Hill, senior soccer player Abby Maiello, senior softball player Emily McDonough and sophomore basketball player Mariah Ruff.

Healy, who was named second team All-Atlantic 10 in March and was a first team preseason selection, was the team’s leading scorer throughout the calendar year. In conference play last season, she led the team in nearly every statistical category, averaging 14.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.2. assists and 1.1 blocks a game. She was the high scorer in 7 of the 16 A-10 games and the top rebounder in eight of those games.

This season, Healy continues to be one of the top all-around players in the A-10, with averages of 15.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and two blocks a game. She is shooting 54.3 percent from the field, the best mark on the team of players who attempt at least five shots a game.

The Lancaster, N.Y. native is not only the go-to player on coach Jim Crowley’s team, she is one of the best players in program history. She is currently eighth on the school’s all-time list in scoring with 1,423 points. If she were to match last season’s conference total of 229 points, she would end the regular season with 1,652, which would put her fourth all-time.

On the boards, Healy has corralled 712 career rebounds, third on the all-time list. She needs 144 to reach second place, which is a definite possibility. As for blocks, she’s already the school record-holder, with 129.

An illustrious career and a dominant 2015 make Healy the Intrepid’s Female Athlete of the Year.

By Katie Faulkner @kfaulkner20

After being picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic 10 just a season ago, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies fell short of their expectations and went on to post an overall record of 15-15 and a conference record of 5-11. A seven-game losing streak left a bitter taste in the mouths of all the players, but nobody appeared more frustrated than Katie Healy.

The 6-foot-1 Healy led her team with 14.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.  She averaged 4.8 offensive rebounds per game, eighth best in the A-10. On December 22, she recorded her 1,000th career point as a junior.

Her statistics alone will easily place her as one of the elite players in program history, but she isn’t focused on the numbers this year.

Healy stressed the importance of working on mental aspects of the game, such as not getting frustrated and blocking out distractions on and off the court.

“I need to stay focused,” said the senior forward. “I think that’s one thing I do really need to work on.”

“Katie’s challenge this year is herself,” said coach Jim Crowley.

Realizing she’s at the eleventh hour of her college career, Healy put in extra work over the summer to prepare for this upcoming season.

“This is my last chance at this, so especially coming off of really bad conference play, we worked really hard this summer to get better,” said the Lancaster, N.Y. native.

Healy acknowledged scoring as her main strength.  However, A-10 teams are aware of this and will design game plans around limiting her touches in the paint.

“Defenses are going to focus on her, which means nothing she gets is going to be easy,” said Crowley. “She needs to be able to overcome that and stick with her game and trust herself.”

The Bonnies were picked to finish ninth in the conference this season, but Healy and her team aren’t focused on rankings.

“We try not to think about that [ranking] so we just focus on what we’ve worked on this entire preseason and during the summer,” said Healy. “We’re looking forward to showing what we’ve got.”