Villa Maria Academy’s Carly Catania, a ‘fearless’ guard, finds a landing spot at New Hampshire

Carly Catania took the floor for the Comets this summer and faced Division I prospects in the Girls Under Armour Association circuit.

Catania, a 5-foot-9 guard at Villa Maria Academy, wasn’t always an eye catcher in the box score, but she grabbed rebound after rebound and made big play after big play on an undersized team. She more than held her own against some of the country’s best players.

“She’s not the biggest kid, but she plays like she’s 6-3,” said Comets 17U coach Steven Gelone. “She’s fearless and does the little stuff. She has a high basketball IQ, always in good position, and she doesn’t really care. If there’s a game where she needs to score, she does. If there’s a game where she’s got to be a defender, she does. She’s like that Swiss Army knife kid.”

Before the start of her senior season, Catania announced that she will continue her hoops career as a preferred walk-on under coach Kelsey Hogan at the University of New Hampshire.

“It was definitely stressful,” Catania said of choosing her college destination. “I had to be patient, but I’m glad everything worked out.”

Catania said New Hampshire saw her play with the Comets this summer and reached out in early September. Villa Maria coach Kathy McCartney didn’t make the initial introduction, but she put a good word in as one of her former players, Mandy Pennewell, is in her third season as a UNH assistant.

That connection piqued Catania’s interest.

When she decided she didn’t want to play at a Division II or III school, Catania’s options included preferred walk-on spots at New Hampshire and Fairfield. She visited both in the fall, heading up to Durham, N.H., to check out a practice.

“Definitely the culture between the players and the coaches,” Catania said about what sold her on UNH. “The coaches really make an effort to get to know you and that’s what I really loved about it.”

Catania is a four-year varsity player at Villa Maria, but the desire and drive to play hoops at the next level didn’t fully begin to take hold until after her sophomore season.

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“She let us know at the end of sophomore year she really wanted to play at the college level and we started marrying academics and basketball,” Gelone said. “New Hampshire is a great spot for her. She’s going to fit into their system because of how versatile she is and how hard she plays.”

Following a solid AAU summer leading into her junior campaign, Catania thought she had a chance to start for the Hurricanes, but a soccer injury caused her to miss the first few games of basketball. She embraced a role off the bench behind five starting seniors who captured the 2022-23 Catholic Academies championship.

Catania was part of a District 1 basketball championship team as a sophomore and added a District 1 championship on the soccer pitch this fall.

This season, she exited her fall sport fully healthy and ready to take on a starring role for the Hurricanes. That’s exactly what she has done on an inexperienced team that is out to a 6-4 start overall and a 2-0 start in the Catholic Academies.

“Her leadership skills have grown immensely,” McCartney said. “She’s our go-to person now. When she was a freshman, she was a little timid and she’s grown into that. She’s not timid. She’s ready. She was the fifth wheel, and now she’s the No. 1 wheel and she’s ready to take that.”

Gelone had six other Division I players on his Comets team this summer, but Catania made it nearly impossible to take her off the floor. Even against the likes of 6-2 South Carolina-bound Joyce Edwards, Catania proved to be invaluable.

And the New Hampshire coaches saw it as well when they watched Catania play.

“Definitely my rebounding and my aggressiveness on and off the floor,” Catania said about what the UNH coaches liked.

“They’re a little bit bigger, so I’m going to have to move into the two, three guard, which I can do that. It’s just going to be a little bit of an adjustment.”

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McCartney has had Division I talent come through her program over the last 36 years. She has seen what it takes to thrive at the highest level of college basketball. She’s certain Catania fits that mold.

“I already told their coaches, she may be a preferred walk-on, but she’s going to play,” McCartney said. “You’ve got to put her in the game because of how aggressive she is and how strong she is. She’s going to be a player.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.