On target

While the Gaels are more competitive this year, their 6-16 mark through last Saturday’s 67-60 loss to Niagara is nevertheless discouraging. Yet, piercing the gloom has been one shining beacon. Her name is Michelle Fahy.
Fahy, a forward who stands 6 feet, has kept opponents honest down low and provides the Gaels with a sorely needed offensive weapon. She currently leads Iona in scoring average (18.8 points per game) and free throw percentage, hitting almost 90 percent, and is among the leaders in rebounds with 5.2 per game. In fact, Fahy has been Iona’s top rebounder since her arrival in New Rochelle, leading the team in each of her first three years. Last year, she was the only Gael to start every game and was the team’s leading scorer on 17 occasions. She also ranks among the top 10 scorers in the program’s history, ascending another rung every so many games. She has a chance to finish as one of the program’s top 10 in several categories, including rebounds, assists, and blocked shots.
In the loss against Niagara, she scored 23 points and had 8 rebounds. It marked the eighth time this season, and the fifth time in six games, that she had broken the 20-point barrier. She also went 6-for-6 from the foul line, giving her a remarkable 33 straight free throws.
A native of Galway city, Fahy spent most of her formative years in Oranmore, a village about four miles east of the city limits. The Fahys moved back to the city when Michelle was 12, at about the time her basketball skills blossomed. A natural athlete, Fahy gravitated to basketball as another outlet for her physical skills.
“I was very sporty and I played camogie and other sports,” Fahy said recently. “To play another one was a bonus, although I had to work at it.”
Fahy joined a development squad when she was 14 years old and continued to move up the ladder in Ireland.
“That got us ready for the Cadets, which is under-16,” Fahy said. “We trained every month for a weekend with the Irish team. After the Cadet team, I got onto the junior team, which is under-18, then under-20.”
Fahy led the Calasanctius College team to a gold medal at the “B” All-Ireland competitions and was named Senior School Basketball Player of the Year. Despite her obvious talent, she didn’t fancy the notion of playing at the collegiate level in the U.S. until well into her final school year in Ireland.
American University, Northeastern University, and Iona each offered Fahy a scholarship. She visited Northeastern first, then settled on Iona, which plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, after a visit to the campus in New Rochelle.
“It’s a smaller school, there are loads of Irish people here, the class sizes are smaller, you get to know the professors and I liked the team that was here,” Fahy said, citing her reasons for choosing Iona.
Although she had been to the U.S. once before on a tour for a few games in New England, Fahy still had some adjusting to do.
“Gosh, yeah,” Fahy said. “It was actually the hardest thing I ever had to do. It was just a totally different lifestyle, a different culture, a different people, being away from my home, my family and everything. Even now, I still get homesick, but it makes going home even more special when I do get to go home.”
The transition was made easier because she packed her “A” game in her suitcase before coming over here.
“I knew I was a hard worker and if I did what the coach tells me, that I was going to play,” Fahy said and this was borne out immediately. She came off the bench in her first game for Iona to score 22 points and grab 7 rebounds against Virginia Commonwealth. From then on, she regularly reached double digits in either points or rebounds, and often both.
Iona has not had a winning season in Fahy’s tenure at the school, and graduation decimated the squad after her sophomore year.
“[Last year] was seriously miserable,” Fahy said. “I remember the game at the MAAC [tournament] when we lost and I told myself that I would do everything I could over the summer to not let this happen again. Loads of us did and we worked hard over the summer and came back in pretty good shape.
Despite the team’s record, Iona has offered more resistance this year. The Gaels are 5-8 against MAAC rivals and four of those losses were by 5 points or less.
Fahy will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in May, but beyond that is an open slate.
“So many people are asking me [what I will do] and I haven’t a clue,” Fahy said. “If I get an opportunity to play further, I would. Or if I get an opportunity to coach and go to grad school, I’d like to do that.”
The season isn’t over yet, though, and the Gaels could gel in time to make a run at the conference championship at tournament time. Whatever the ending, Michelle Fahy will be fondly remembered as the team’s savior in some desperate times.