Possegrabs2,000,capsrecord-breakingcareer

by Paul Moser sports editor

If you had talked to Melissa Posse her first year of college here at Cabrini and told her she would become the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Cavalier basketball history-man or woman-scoring an unprecedented 2,000th point last week, she would have laughed in your face.

At that time in her life, she was just a first-yeru:student trying to fit in around perennial prime-time Lady Cavalier players such as Patti Carr and Megan Dillon, then seniors.

Posse did not have a grasp on the amount of success she would enjoy at Cabrini. ''This was something I never expected, not in a million years," Posse said.

Posse, a recruit from Academy Park High School, was a semiconsistent scorer and powerful rebounding center for their varsity team. She had picked up this game called basketball in her first year of high school and then ended up starting on varsity her second.

Since that time at Academy Park,Posse has become a staple of Lady Cavalier basketball at Cabrini and her game has come to shape the college's scoring and rebounding records for men and women.

Dan Welde, her current coach and, at the time, her recruiter, saw a player from Academy Park who was a devastating rebounder in the paint and a center he sorely needed.

He had no idea of what she could accomplish with her scoring.

According to Welde, he never expected to see Posse score 2,000 either. "I didn't think that 2,000 points was achievable. To achieve what she did in her career, I don't think anyone expected that," said Welde.

With determination and acquired scoring savvy, achieve it she did. Currently Posse has just over 2,000 points and over 1,200 rebounds. She is in the company of only three other women ever to do that in Division III NCAA women's basketball. Posse will go down in history as one of the most dominating and prolific scorers in Cavaliers' history.

All that said, according to Posse, her book in Lady Cavalier history has another important chapter left to complete. That chapter is entitled "Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Champs."

Posse has yet to get a PAC championship with the Lady Cavaliers and according to her, that is more important to her than the number 2,000.

While the men's basketball team has won six straight PAC titles, Posse had to be content to sit back and watch.

This year the men are the ones watching, and she hopes to lead the Lady Cavaliers to the PAC championship.

"It's the greatest to win a championship," Posse said. "I have been around the guys three times when they did it. It looks awesome and it seems unexplainable how you feel. I want to cut down some nets."

According to Posse, those records and scoring titles will lose their luster if they are not topped off with a PAC championship.

According to Posse, she feels that this is her best chance to do so. She may be right. But regardless of the outcome of the season, she will not be leaving Cabrini with chopped liver. According to Welde and others, she is the most talented player ever to play for the Lady Cavaliers.

Imagine that corning from a player who hardly even played any ball until her first year of high school and was recruited for her rebounding.

Although Posse still doesn't like to make a big deal out of the records, she earned them. And even though she may have laughed at people who thought she would reach those records, she said she will look on them fondly with a

Senior Melissa Posse is the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in men's and women's Cavalier basketball history. She recently became the only Cabrini player ever to score 2,000 points.