By Louie Galdos
Elm Staff Writer
This week’s featured student-athlete, junior Bridget McLaughlin, plays the position of guard for the Shorewomen basketball team. She hails from Newark, De., where she went to the Delaware Military Academy.
During her time there, she was select- ed to the Blue-Gold All Star game and earned All-Conference Second Team honors. Currently in her junior year for the Shorewomen, she has earned recognition for Shorewoman of the week twice and is a three-time Goose Nation TV Shorewomen Player of the Game.
She said her focus this season is to increase scoring and tighten up on defense.
“My approach this season has been to increase my scoring and shut down the person I am guarding. As a guard, I also try to get the ball to the post players on offense,” she said.
So far this season she has scored 160 points, averaging 9.4 per game in 17 starts. Her game-high in points versus Centennial Conference teams is 19, against Swarthmore College followed by 17 against Ursinus College.
To prepare for big games, “we blast music in the locker room and dance and pump each other up to gain energy and a positive attitude for the game,” she said.
Head Coach Alisha Mosley noted McLaughlin’s player growth, emphasizing her change in role as she progresses
through her career.
“Every year McLaughlin continues
to develop into an all–around player,” Mosley said. “Freshman year she was asked to be a spark off the bench; this year she is depended on to be one of our top scores and playmakers. She has great court vision and she’s our emotional leader. When she’s on, the team is at its best.”
Coach Mosely said McLaughlin is largely responsible for the team’s overall attitude, naming her the “team jokester.”
“I definitely have to watch what I say around her or I will be the brunt of the joke,” Mosely said.
Senior guard Alexis Krahling also had nothing but positive words to say about Bridget’s player growth.
“McLaughlin has progressed nicely since her freshman year,” Krahling said. “This year she has taken on a scoring mentality. While she has always had a really nice shot, this year especially she has gotten a lot better at driving to the basket as well as hitting three point shots.”
“She never fails to put a smile on my face and nine times out of ten, you can probably catch her dancing,” Krahling added.
A business major and marketing mi- nor, McLaughlin has earned Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll status in 2018, and will possibly pursue graduate school after graduation.