Katelynn Christine Flaherty (born February 15, 1996) is a former American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. She played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

, where she is Michigan's all-time leading scorer in points, man or woman, with 2,776 career points, field goals made, three-point field goals made, double-figure scoring games and 30-point games.

Playing career

High school career

Flaherty began her basketball career at

Manasquan High School Manasquan High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Manasquan, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone high school of the Manasq ...

. As a freshman at Manasquan, she scored 579 points for an average of 22.3 points per game. As a sophomore at Manasquan, she scored 673 points and averaged 21 points per game and helped lead her team to a No. 1 ranking in the state, a 32–2 record and the Tournament of Champions championship, a tournament between the winners of each high school division in New Jersey. She recorded a game-high 27 points in the final and was subsequently named the tournament final's MVP. During the summer of 2012, she transferred to

Point Pleasant Beach High School Point Pleasant Beach High School is a four-year, comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Point Pleasant Beach in Ocean County, United States, operating as the lone secondary school ...

. As a junior, she scored 860 points, averaging 30.7 points, 5.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game, to help lead Point Pleasant Beach to a 26–2 record and the New Jersey Group 1 state championship, their first in school history. Following the season she was named first team All-State, first team All-Shore, All-New Jersey first team by MSG and All-Metro first team. She scored 2,075 career points in her first three seasons, becoming the first Shore Conference player ever to surpass the 2,000 career point mark as a junior. For her senior year she then transferred to Metuchen High School where her father and uncle played. She suffered a

Lisfranc injury A Lisfranc injury, also known as Lisfranc fracture, is an injury of the foot in which one or more of the metatarsal bones are displaced from the tarsus. The injury is named after Jacques Lisfranc de St. Martin, a French surgeon and gynecologi ...

early in the season, that prematurely ended her high school playing career.

Collegiate career

During the 2014–15 season in her freshman year, Flaherty appeared in all 35 games for the Wolverines, including eight starts, averaging 14.3 points per game to lead Michigan in scoring. She became the sixth freshman in school history to lead a team in scoring, and also was the conference's third-leading freshman scorer. She set a new freshman record with 78 three-pointers. Following the season she was named to the All-Freshman team and was named Sixth Player of the Year, becoming the first Michigan player to earn the honor. During the 2015–16 season in her sophomore year, Flaherty started all 35 games, scoring in double figures in 34 games, and set a program record for points scored (774) and points per game (22.3). She ranked eighth nationally and third in the Big Ten in scoring average at 22.3 points per game. She became the second sophomore in school history to surpass 1,000 points when she scored a then career-high 36 points against

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

on February 7, 2016. Following the season she was named a unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection by both the coaches and the media, becoming just the fourth Wolverine in school history to earn a spot on the first team. During the 2016–17 season in her junior year, she averaged a team-high 20.2 points and 3.0 assists in 33.9 minutes per game. She scored in double figures in 34 games, recording 20 20-point games and three 30-point games. On January 7, 2017, she scored a career-high 38 points and set a then program-record with eight three-pointers in a game against

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Following the season she was named a unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection by both the coaches and the media for the second consecutive year. During the

2017 Women's National Invitation Tournament The 2017 Women's National Invitation Tournament was an annual single-elimination tournament of 64 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2017 Women's NCAA tournament. The tournament committee announced the 64-team fiel ...

against

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...

, she recorded 27 points, including two three-pointers in the final 1:06 of regulation to force overtime, helping Michigan win the

Women's National Invitation Tournament The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tourname ...

, their first postseason championship in program history, and was subsequently named tournament MVP. During the 2017–18 season in her senior year, Flaherty started all 33 games, averaging 22.9 points per game, the fifth highest average in the country, 2.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 36.8 minutes per game. She scored in double figures in all but one game, recording 25 20-point games and three 30-point games. On November 16, 2017, Flaherty recorded 23 points in a game against

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, to become Michigan women's basketball program's leading scorer, surpassing the previous record of 2,076 points set by

Diane Dietz Diane Dietz is a former All-American basketball player. She played for the University of Michigan from 1979 to 1982 and is the school's second all-time scoring leader with 2,076 points. She also set the Big Ten Conference single-game scoring recor ...

in 1982. On December 28, 2017, she recorded a new program-record 10 three-pointers against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High ...

, finishing the game with 33 points. On January 13, 2018, she recorded 26 points in a game against

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

, to become Michigan's all-time leading scorer, man or woman, surpassing

Glen Rice Glen Anthony Rice Sr. (born May 28, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a small forward, Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star and made 1,559 three-point field goal ...

's school record of 2,442 points. On January 20, 2018, she recorded 27 points in a game against

, to become the seventh Big Ten women's basketball player to score 2,500 career points. Flaherty finished the season with 118 three-pointers, setting a new single-season program record. She helped Michigan advance to the

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...

for the first time since

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

. Following an outstanding season, she was named a finalist for the

Nancy Lieberman Award The Nancy Lieberman Award, named for Basketball Hall of Fame legend Nancy Lieberman, was given annually by the Rotary Club of Detroit in the Award's first 14 years to the nation's top collegiate point guard in women's Division I basketball. Sue Bi ...

and

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Female Athlete of the Year. She was also named a unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection by both the coaches and the media, marking her third consecutive season with consensus first team honors. She was named to the WBCA All-Region team and WBCA All-America honorable mention for the third consecutive year. She also earned All-America honorable mention by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

, becoming the first Wolverine to earn AP mention. Flaherty became the first three-time all-region honoree in program history. Flaherty finished her career at Michigan as the all-time leading point-scorer in Michigan basketball history, man or woman, with 2,776 career-points, field goals made (984), three-point field goals made (410), double-figure scoring games (127) and 30-point games (13). She was the second woman in NCAA history to surpass 400 career three-point shots made, following Kelsey Mitchell, finishing with 410 three-pointers.

Michigan statistics

Source

References

External links