Juniors King, Carroll Joined by Sophomore Graham
Colgate head coach Bill Cleary announced Friday afternoon that Summer King, Mackenzie Carroll and Tegan Graham are serving as captains for the 2017-18 season.
King and Carroll are juniors and Graham is a sophomore.
“We have selected a very strong group of leaders for the 2017-18 season,” Cleary said. “It was a very difficult choice – we had a lot of good candidates to choose from. But these three really stand out day-to-day.”
King ranks among the Patriot League leaders in scoring (12th), rebounding (4th), field goal percentage (4th), free throw percentage (12th) and blocked shots (4th). She already has three double-doubles this season and has posted personal game highs for scoring (21) and rebounding (17).
“Summer has bought in from Day 1, taking everything we say and applying it to her everyday routine – and you can see the results,” Cleary said. “She is a great leader by example but the other thing is there’s a leader inside of her. She doesn’t always realize the respect she has among her teammates, but it’s there and she’s a very effective leader.”
Graham is coming off a career night in Colgate’s tough-luck loss to Siena. She scored a personal-best 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting and was 2-of-2 from 3-point distance. She added collegiate highs with three steals and 36 minutes played, and she’s up to fourth on the team in scoring at 8.1.
“Tegan is a strong vocal leader in a very positive way,” Cleary said. “She makes sure the players are following through on everything we want and has no problem telling her teammates what they need to hear. She’s a born leader and, when she was injured last year, she saw things from a different perspective and that insight she gained has been very positively received.”
Carroll in the early going ranks fourth among Patriot League 3-point shooting leaders at 50 percent, on 5-of-10. She scored a season-high 11 points in Colgate’s 74-70 win at Cornell, swishing 3-of-4 from long distance.
“Mackenzie is the perfect example of the type of person and player you want representing your program and your culture,” Cleary said. “She is someone who never takes a play off and never takes a day off. If she’s not in the gym, she’s in the library or in the Chun academic center. She’s always working and always striving to be better than she was the day before, which is a staple of our program.”