By Michael Letendre

ROCHESTER, NY – Finally getting a chance to hit the hardwood for one more season, Bristol’s Brigid Johndrow – a graduate student for the women’s basketball program at Utica College – has picked up right where she left off.

And the former St. Paul Catholic standout is once again racking up awards and honors.

Johndrow was recently named Empire 8 Player of the Week, as announced by the conference this past Monday, for another outstanding seven days of play.

The Health Studies Major has a lot of Dennis Johnson in her – filling up the stat sheet over several categories – and continues to do so over her final collegiate season.

Utica is a NCAA Division III program out of New York and the Pioneers have been on quite a roll to open the 2021-22 campaign.

In Utica’s 59-43 win over SUNY Poly on November 30, Johndrow flipped out 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting – playing all 40 minutes along the way. 

The guard dished out a team-high eight assists and hauled down six rebounds in the 16-point victory.

She also rejected two shots and swiped three steals over another complete-game effort.

In fact, when it comes to winning, that’s all the Pioneers have been doing as of late.

To end the first half of the season, the Pioneers are a perfect 8-0 and are off until January 3 before picking up the ball again.

When Utica goes back to work, it will host Hamilton (January 3), Elmira (January 7), Keuka College (January 8), and Hartwick College (January 11) before finally hitting the road.

That’s a real chance for the Pioneers to have a double-figure win tally before taking the road for three straight contests.

Currently, Johndrow is second on the squad in minutes played (227), minutes-per-game (28.4), while adding 10.6 points-per-game to the till.

Johndrow hits nearly 43-percent of all her field goals, is a 29-percent shooter from downtown and has cashed in on 24-of-35 free throws to date.

Her 5.5 rebounds-per-game is an excellent contribution while her 50 assists (6.3 per game) and 28 steals (3.5) leads the program.

In fact, Johndrow carries a 28-to-18 ratio in terms of steals-to-turnovers – which is an amazing statistic on any level. 

And those 1.6 steals per every one turnover, not surprisingly, leads the squad this year.

Over her last three games, Johndrow scooped in averages of 14.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 2.0 steals-per-game in just under 32 minutes an outing.

And what was so special in Utica’s 90-82 victory over Morrisville State on December 11?

Johndrow collected a rare collegiate triple-double as the Pioneers got to the pay window one more time.

In 36 minutes of play, she snared 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists to help lead her team to an eighth straight win.

It was another big night in a career full of those types of games by Johndrow at both St. Paul Catholic and Utica.

Entering this season, Johndrow started 65 of her 76 appearances for the Pioneers and has netted 684 career points collegiately.

She’s kicked in over 80 three-point baskets and entered 2021-22 as an eighty-percent free throw shooter.

The 5-foot-8 guard was one of the main cogs at St. Paul Catholic, under head coach Joe Mone, and the long time mentor played Johndrow early and often over her four seasons for the Falcons.

Johndrow didn’t need to be the leading scorer on the squad, having plenty of scorers around her, and simply made the team better with her savvy play, experience, determination and complete understanding of the game.

And then there was the defensive component few points guards in the Naugatuck Valley League could match, including lofty steal totals.

As a junior, Johndrow averaged 8.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists-per-game while one season later, she took home NVL All-Copper Division honors.

She zipped in 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.8 steals-per-game – sacrificing scoring for the development of then freshmen Janessa Gonzalez and Jade Udoh.

And that’s what a good leader does – sacrifices for the good of the team.

That’s an amazing job all by itself at the scholastic level but Johndrow did it one again collegiately and now, her outstanding play has Utica undefeated over the first eight games of the year.