University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Joann McKay 1988 - Basketball
One of the most dominant women's basketball players all-time at UVM, Joann McKay left the program as the career scoring leader with 1,833 points and leading rebounder with 993. A 1998 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, she also was the first player in the program's history to lead the team in scoring and rebounding. Additionally, she was chosen as the team's most valuable player for four straight seasons. McKay finished her career in 1988 as the third leading scorer in conference history and is currently ranked seventh. Over four seasons she started in all of the 102 games the Cats played.
The 6-1 Kirkland, Quebec native was the first of a long line of great Catamount women's hoop players from Canada, prepping at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High and John Abbott College. Her freshman season she made an immediate impact and was named Seaboard Conference Rookie of the Week five times. In scoring 379 points and garnering 230 rebounds, McKay established UVM single-season records in both categories which she bettered throughout her career. Her Vermont records for scoring and rebounding by a first-year player still stand today.
As a sophomore, she became the first Vermont woman to be named conference Player of the Year with 462 points (19.3 ppg) and 242 rebounds becoming the first Catamount to average in double figures, 10.1 per game, in rebounding for a season. She set the UVM single-game scoring record that season scoring 39 points vs. Brooklyn on 19 of 24 from the floor. The 19 field goals are still a UVM single-game record. Nine games into her junior season, she became UVM's all-time leading scorer and the school's second 1000-point scorer. She led the Cats in scoring eleven times that season. Her numbers in her junior year were similar to her sophomore season, 461 points (topping her school-record) and 230 rebounds.
Her senior numbers were her best, becoming UVM's first-ever 20-point per game scorer with a then-school record 531 points in 26 games (20.4 ppg). Selected again as first team all-Seaboard Conference, she also set Vermont single-season records with 291 rebounds (11.2 a game).
McKay finished in the top ten in nine UVM career statistical categories, including the leader in six: First in scoring (1833), first in field goals (750), first in field goal attempts (1637), second in field goal percentage (.458), first in free throws (332), first in free throw attempts (597), first in rebounds (993), sixth in steals (102) and third in blocked shots (31).
A top student earning both her bachelor's and masters (1994) degree in Nursing from UVM, McKay won the Semans Trophy (for leadership, loyalty and service) and was a member of 'Who's Who Among Students in American Universities' in 1988. In completing her graduate work at UVM, she was a volunteer assistant coach under Cathy Inglese for 1988-89 and 1989-90.
