As the Boston University women’s basketball team looks to get its 2014-15 season underway, it will be facing a number of challenges. Between an overhauled coaching staff and a roster that sports only three upperclassmen, the Terriers will be looking to their veterans for guidance. Senior forward Mollie McKendrick is one of those veterans. Last season the Mildura, Australia native averaged 9.1 points per game and shot 38.5 percent from the floor. The only senior on the roster this year, McKendrick will shoulder the burden of leadership and said she hopes to set a good example for her fellow Terriers this winter.
1. How’s your semester going?
“Really well. I’m glad to be back in America and back working, playing basketball, back in classes. It’s going really well.”
2. What’s your major?
“I’m a criminal justice major.”
3. What do you want to do with that once you get out of school?
“I want to end up going to law school back home in Australia and become a defense attorney, so that’s kind of my goal with that.”
4. Are you taking any cool classes this semester, or any class that you really like?
“Unfortunately nothing too exciting this semester. Last semester I was able to take a violence and trauma class that I really enjoyed, so that was really interesting and fascinating.”
5. So how was your offseason? How does the team look?
“Really good. I was able to go home to and spend some time home, but I stayed in contact with them the whole time I was home and kept up with them and the signing of the new coaches and everything. The offseason was really good. I think we all got some time off and got some kind of time to regroup and be fresh for the upcoming season.
6. What can you say about your new coach, are you excited to work with her?
“I’m really excited. Coach [Katy] Steding is a great coach and all the coaches on that coaching staff have just got so much experience and knowledge. Already you can tell how much they can share with us and really talk from their own experiences. … Every day we’re all learning with them and learning how they want us to play and how BU basketball is going to be this year.”
7. What do you think this team is going to have to do to be successful this year?
“[We just need to] play as a team. We have a talented group of 10. Everyone can contribute in so many ways. As long as we keep playing as a team and we keep playing that up-tempo style that Coach Steding wants, we’re going to be a fun team to watch this year. As you said we lost our starting scorers, but in the same sense, we all feel like we can all contribute this year. We want to be a team that’s hard to scout and hard to guard knowing that we have five really good players on the floor and five on the bench that could easily be subbed in.”
8. What can you say about your responsibilities as a leader of this team?
“It is a bit of a different role this year knowing I am the only true senior and that we are kind of a very young team, so I’m just trying to be a good role model for the young girls — just trying to set the pace and set the tone. They knew coming in that we were going to be young but we’ve expected a lot from them from the beginning and they’ve responded really well to that. We all learn from each other and we’re teaching each other every single day. I think the freshmen have done a great job and even the sophomores are really stepping up. A lot of people will say this year that we are a young team, but I don’t want that to be an excuse, and I don’t feel like that is an excuse for us at all.”
9. Do you have any goals for this season? Either team-wide, personal or otherwise?
“Of course the Patriot League Championship is right there for us as a team. That’s where we want to be. That is that goal that we’re always preparing for. And just personally I want to be a good role model and do whatever I can to help the team get there. … So I guess that my goal is to be a consistent role model and a consistent contributor on a nightly basis with my game.”
10. Is there any game on the schedule that you’re really looking forward to this season and why?
“Every game. It’s kind of scary thinking about your senior year and how quickly time flies when you’re in college, so every game is going to be a whole new perspective for me, knowing the first game of the season is going to be my last home opener or my last game against someone like Northeastern [University], so every single game is going to be special to me. Every single game is going to be a new challenge.”
11. You’re from Australia. Had you come to the U.S. before coming to BU?
“No, so I visited Boston University a couple of months before I actually came and moved here for good. So it was kind of a whole lot of new experiences in a very short amount of time.”
12. What was the transition like?
“It was definitely difficult. We didn’t really have any other international players on the team at that time so it was a new thing for them as well. … It was tough from the beginning but I feel like as time progressed and I got to know the city more and I got to know the BU community more, I felt more and more at home and now it’s kind of sad thinking it could be coming to an end at the end of the year.”
13. What’s the basketball scene like in Australia?
“It’s good. We’ve got a really developing scene. I personally believe the women’s program has been up there, probably not as good as the U.S. team, but we’ve been right up there with winning silver in the World Championships and winning bronze at Juniors, so the women’s program has always been good. The men’s is definitely developing and we’re hoping to get to the point where we can compete with the European teams like Spain and Greece and places like that, but I definitely think that basketball in Australia is developing and our junior participation is increasing.
14. What got you into basketball?
“I honestly can’t even explain it. I just clicked with it. I never really played when I was younger. I always played tennis because that’s always what my family did. Weirdly enough, I’d always be in the backyard kind of practicing and playing basketball with myself, just shooting around and teaching myself to shoot, which is probably why I shoot so strange now, but I always just had a little click with basketball. Then I had a very, very small opportunity to play and I kind of jumped on it straight away and it was kind of surreal how it all happened. One team turned into the state team, turned into playing at nationals, and then next minute I’m in Boston. It was a very surreal, dreamlike trip and basketball has just been an amazing sport that has really changed my life.”
15. Did you have any players or clubs that you looked up to or idolized or tried to emulate?
“Probably not. I love the game of basketball, I love watching [the] NBA, I love watching college, I love watching any type of basketball and I think I’m always watching to learn as well. Of course I loved watching the [San Antonio] Spurs play, and even now I love watching [Los Angeles] Lakers like Kobe Bryant. But I also love watching the WNBA and seeing people like [Phoenix Mercury guard] Diana Taurasi and players like that who’ve changed the women’s game as well.”
16. Do you have any pre-game rituals?
“Absolutely. I have two songs that I have to listen to. One is “Holy Grail” by Hunters & Collectors, which is an Australian pop song. I tried getting it on to the warm up in the past but I guess being a senior now I can throw it on there and no one can really complain. And then there’s a song by T.I. called “Bring ‘Em Out,” and that’s just kind of been a song I would go to listen to before a game when I was younger, so I just kind of listen to it all the time.
17. What’s your favorite place in Boston?
“I’d have to probably say Faneuil Hall and down by that area. I love Quincy Market, the harbor down there. The food down that way is amazing. I love going down there and relaxing and kind of having a chill out session and kind of a break from BU.”
18. So going off the food, what’s your favorite food?
“I actually love The Cheesecake Factory. It’s one of my favorite places in America. It’s so good — the bread, and the macaroni and cheese bowls and the nachos. But my favorite food has to be the Cajun chicken jambalaya.
19. Who in your opinion is the funniest player on the team?
“I’d probably have to say [guard] Meghan Doogan. She’s one of the freshmen this year and ever since I met her when I got back from the summer she’s just been hilarious. She’s always cracking jokes, putting things in our group message and just making funny statements.”
20. What are some of your hobbies off the court? I know you mentioned playing tennis with your family what else do you do?
“I’m a pretty relaxed person. I love any sport and watching any sport. I usually try to go to as many BU games as possible. Or I love just hanging out and watching a movie with friends or going shopping and doing the kind of typical teenager-type things. I’m a pretty easygoing person but I definitely love getting involved in the community, like going to see movies and just stuff like that. [I also] love traveling and that’s something I really look forward to doing after BU as well.”
