Grace Geary is no stranger to carving out a role on a new basketball team.
Before ever setting foot on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus in September as a freshman, Geary proved the talent she possesses can find a spot on any team. After collecting league all-star honors as a member of the Falmouth girls’ basketball team her first three seasons, she joined the North Quincy team when her family moved before the start of her senior year of high school.
While her team’s name changed from the Clippers to the Red Raiders, the guard’s play on the court remained consistent. In her only season at North Quincy, the guard once again was elected as a league all-star after notching her 1,000th career point.
Now as a freshman guard on the Beacons Women’s Basketball team, Geary said going through the experience of familiarizing herself with a new team is much easier the second time around.
“I kind of already knew what to do,” said Geary. “[UMass Boston] has been a way easier transition. The girls are awesome, I honestly don’t think I could ask for a better team. There have been no problems—everything has been really smooth.”
Just as she prospered with her new team at North Quincy, it didn’t take long for Geary to make an impact for the Beacons this season. In the team’s season-opening loss at Colby College on Nov. 15, she scored 12 points while adding a team-high six assists to go along with five rebounds.
Not bad for a debut.
Geary scored 16 points in the team’s next game—an 82-53 win over Lassell—before registering eight and five points in the two games that followed. By the time the Beacons’ fifth game rolled around and the team traveled to Mount Ida on Dec. 2, Geary led all scorers with 24 points while also adding a team-high five assists to help UMass Boston capture a 76-45 win.
The message was clear, Geary could play. When the team continued its road trip with a visit to Keene State on Dec. 6, the freshman found herself in the starting lineup for the first time in her young collegiate career.
“I knew what starting was like because I did it throughout high school,” Geary recalls of the feelings she felt prior to the game. “I was still a little bit nervous the first game, but as soon as it started the nerves seemed to disappear and it was just playing the same game.”
Even though Geary netted a season-low two points in her first start, the freshman has continued to find a home in the Beacons’ starting lineup. She has started each of the 13 games since making her first, and has scored new career-highs against Brandies (26 points) on Jan. 6, Plymouth State (27 points) on Jan. 13, and UMass Dartmouth (28 points) on Jan. 20.
Scoring hasn’t been the only impact Geary has made on the Beacons as a freshman, however. Her 29.5 minutes per game leads the team, narrowly besting junior forward Olivia Murphy, who ranks second with 29.3.
On three different occasions Geary has been asked to go the distance and play a complete 40 minute game, something she believes has been easier after years of playing basketball.
“I don’t really notice it that much,” said Geary of playing extended minutes after only playing 32-minute games in high school. “Ever since I was little I played all year round with AAU and we played in the fall too. Playing a whole game can be tiring, but if you put in the work in practice it pays off.”
As her new team enters the most critical point of its season prior to the Little East Conference tournament, it’s clear that the addition of Geary—who leads the team in both points (14.3) and assists (3.7) per game—has helped the Beacons garner a 12-7 (5-4 LEC) record.
While the guard credited both her coaches and teammates for helping make the transition to UMass Boston an easy one, ultimately Geary said the biggest reason for the team’s success has been how the team has come together as the season has progressed.
“I feel like with any new team you don’t really know what everybody else does so you don’t really flow together at the beginning,” she said. “I think as the season has gone on we’ve worked together so much better—especially recently. I think we’re playing much better together and now we know what everyone does and we know our roles and what we can do, it’s just more comfortable.”
Even if the Beacons were to suddenly change their name, Geary has once again demonstrated this season that it was never really her team’s name which mattered.