University of Vermont Athletics

Missy Kelsen 1992 - Basketball

The first female winner of the J. Edward Donnelly Award as the school's top athlete and 2002 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, Missy Kelsen was the star of the 1991-92 29-1 women's basketball team that first captured the imagination of the community, the state and the region.

The 1992 Co-Player of the Year in the North Atlantic Conference (now America East), Kelsen was also on the NAC All-Championship Team and was a second-team All-ECAC performer. The 1992 team went 29-0 during the regular season, establishing a new standard for wins in a season and getting an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, where the Catamounts lost by one point at George Washington. In that game, Kelsen scored 17 points and added four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 38 minutes. A three-time All-Conference performer, Kelsen was named to the second team All-NAC team in 1990 and was a first-team performer in 1991 and 1992. She was also named to the All-Championship team in 1991 when the team went 22-7 and lost in the conference finals to Maine.

Kelsen began her UVM career with a solid freshman year and she started showing her talent more prominently as a sophomore, averaging 12.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game. As a junior, Kelsen was one of the top players in New England averaging 18.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists a game. She was second in the NAC in scoring that year, and led the league in free-throw percentage (.814) and steals (110). As a senior when she also was a tri-captain, Kelsen averaged 13.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.6 steals a game.

Among the nation's leaders in steals during her four seasons, Kelsen finished her career as the all-time steals leader at UVM with 328. Kelsen's strength was her all-around game. She could score, she could rebound, she was the team's best defensive player and she was a tremendous competitor. Her overall ability is illustrated by her name being found throughout the UVM record book. She finished fifth in career scoring with 1,377 points, tied for fifth in scoring average (12.7 a game), eighth in field-goal percentage (44.8%), fifth in field goals (520) and ninth in games played (108). She is also sixth in three-point field goal percentage (36.4), third in three-point field goals (105), fifth in free-throw percentage (74.4), eighth in assists with 284 and seventh in free throws (232).