University of Massachusets Athletics
Mills To Broaden Hoops Experience In Spain
July 17, 2008 | Women's Basketball
July 17, 2008
Before Elena DelleDonne, Ursuline Academy had Kate Mills.
Like DelleDonne, Mills earned myriad accolades as a Raider. She was a Gatorade State Player of the Year in volleyball and basketball and the Delaware Scholastic Player of the Year in 2004, when, together with DelleDonne, then in the eighth grade, the Raiders won the state girls basketball championship.
Mills recently completed an outstanding four-year varsity career at the University of Massachusetts, leaving as one of the program's all-time career scoring and rebounding leaders.
Mills has signed a contract to play overseas for a team in Pamplona, Spain. Pamplona may be better known as the home of the annual "Running of the Bulls."
Mills said the only running she plans to do is on the court, where she features a strong inside game of scoring, rebounding and shot blocking.
"Marnie Dacko, my coach at Massachusetts knows the agent of a former player who was willing to help us out,' said Mills. "She sent a highlight tape to him and in turn he sent it to a bunch of teams over there. When I was offered this opportunity I jumped at it. Spain is one of the top three or four women's professional basketball areas along with Italy and France. I'm very excited about this chance."
Mills, a 6-foot-1 forward from Elkton, Md., was a second-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference choice in 2007-08.
The fact that Massachusetts was just 5-9 in conference play and 13-17 overall probably didn't help Mills get the exposure of first-team all-conference picks, but Mills put up championship numbers in just about every offensive category. She led UMass in scoring average (17.4 points), rebounds (7.3), field goal percentage (222-427, 52 percent), blocks (2.3 per game) and minutes played (35.5 a game), total rebounds (219) and average defensive boards (5.8 per game).
Even though she often played with her back to the basket, Mills was second in 3-point goals at 37.9 percent (11-for-29) and foul shooting (85.9 percent), 67-for-78.
"Probably my biggest disappointment from college was not getting to play in the NCAA tournament," said Mills, who was a two-time, first-team All-State player in basketball at Ursuline.
"We had the ability, and I played with a great bunch of athletes. It seemed that at certain times we had trouble putting the ball in the basket, and you can't let that happen. We play in a very good, underrated conference."
As a freshman, Mills started seven of 29 games and averaged 19.3 minutes. She averaged six points, 3.3 rebounds and shot 45.9 percent from the field and 75.7 percent from the foul line. Those numbers improved in 2005-06 when she averaged 12.4 points (second best on the team), 5.3 rebounds and shot 54.2 percent from the field.
Mills set the bar her final two seasons, starting 60 consecutive games and leading UMass in scoring and rebounding.
"I definitely had to become more versatile in college," Mills said. "I became more of an inside player with my back to the basket. I really had to work hard my freshman and sophomore year to improve a lot."
Mills was certainly appreciated by her coaches, teammates and fans at UMass.
At the UMass women's basketball banquet on April 15, Mills received the Jack Leaman Award as the team's most valuable player in 2007-08.The award is voted on by the UMass coaches.
Mills finished the regular season third in the A-10 in scoring and blocks, second in free throw shooting, fifth in field goal percentage and ninth in rebounding.
She was chosen A-10 Player of the Week a conference-best four times.
She finished her career at UMass as the school's all-time leader in shots blocked and fourth on the all-time scoring list with 1,525 points.
Mills also had a four-year total of 670 rebounds, for a 5.7 average.
Mills said she is working on her game before heading to Spain.
"Right now, I'm not playing in any summer leagues, but I'm working on all aspects of my game. I play in a lot of pickup games, and I'm in any high school gym I can get access to all the time."
Mills looks forward to going overseas for the basketball and cultural experience. She even hopes it will help her get a job.
"I love it here, but I want to get out of Delaware for a while,' she said. "My focus is on environmental engineering. I really wouldn't trade anything about my college choice and playing career."