Susquehanna head coach Gabby Holko instructs the River Hawks during a time out at the 2024 D3hoops.com Classic. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

By Gordon Mann

LAS VEGAS -- Around 6:30 am on Monday morning, I staggered from Terminal C at Philadelphia International Airport to the baggage claim area, fresh off the red-eye flight back from the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas.

I spotted one of the women’s basketball assistant coaches from Susquehanna University whose team also endured the cramp-worthy cross-country trip.

• Full event coverage, including D3hoops.com Classic Conversation interviews with each team
• Day 3 recap: Running in the red
• Day 2 recap: Late-night drama
• Day 1 recap: Redlands pulls away
• Monday's full scoreboard: Men | Women
• D3hoops.com Classic record book

The drive from Philadelphia International to the Susquehanna University campus in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania is about three hours. It features Philadelphia traffic (though maybe not too bad at 7:30 am on New Year’s Eve) and the mind-numbing monotony of the Pennsylvania turnpike.

“Please tell me you have someone to drive you back to campus.”

“Well, Gabby’s going to drive us back. We have practice tomorrow and then play [ninth-ranked] Gettysburg this weekend.”

Gabby is Gabby Holko – Susquehanna women's basketball head coach and road warrior.

She's building a River Hawks' program that won 18 games last season, their most in almost 30 years. The River Hawks are striving to contend with three nationally ranked teams in the Landmark Conference (No. 4 Scranton, No. 22 Catholic and No. 24 Elizabethtown). They're also enduring a season that started with a season-ending injury to their best player Julia Roth.

The box score from that game shows how big a loss Roth's injury is. She had 26 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes. That may be the only 30 minutes she plays this year.

Holko’s short-handed, gritty River Hawks battled hard against Colorado College and Wittenberg before dropping both games at the D3hoops.com Classic. Still, Holko emanated positivity, poise and perseverance in our postgame interview.

"Losing Jule Game 1 was something we did not expect and we did not want to happen. It was the way the universe worked out...she's the heartbeat of our team," Holko explained. "Pivoting was a little bit difficult but I am so proud of our whole squad has taken that and ran with it and playing for her almost...We're different without her. That's definitely something that everybody can see. But, at the end of the day, I'm proud of how our girls are pivoting and taking it and running with it and doing the best they can on the floor."

Teams overcoming early, season-altering injuries were an unfortunate theme for the 14th annual D3hoops.com Classic.

SUNY New Paltz entered the season ranked No. 22 in our preseason women’s Top 25 poll. The Hawks returned All-Everything guard Brianna Fitzgerald as the centerpiece of an experienced roster that reached the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Fitzgerald is a two-time All-American, two-time Region 3 Player of the Year, and Jostens Trophy Finalist.

During the preseason, Fitzgerald suffered a major knee injury, though it wasn’t immediately clear how serious it was. Initially the Hawks hoped it would just sideline Fitzgerald for the first semester. SUNY New Paltz head coach Jamie Seward told us that instead, within the span of 30 minutes, Fitzgerald learned that she was a first-team preseason All-American and that her season was over. She had a torn ACL.

“Dreams realized and dashed, within an hour,” Seward says in our Classic Conversation.

SUNY New Paltz will still contend for the SUNYAC title. The Hawks are 3-6 but they’re 2-0 in conference.

And if there are any feelings of disappointment, it’s not evident from talking to Seward or watching Fitzgerald, who bounds around the bench and shouts instruction and encouragement to her teammates throughout the games.

“The way she’s handled [the injury] is phenomenal,” Seward say. “She’s an amazing, amazing person. One of the best people I’ve ever had the privilege to coach or even be around in my life...She’s taken a lot of the younger players under her wing, even before the season started.”

Fitzgerald reflects Seward’s passion and commitment to his program. He has quietly developed one of the best coaching resumes in Division III with a winning percentage just shy of .700. He’s quick to deflect praise, talking about how fortunate he is to land work at SUNY New Paltz and develop a second family with players like Fitzgerald and floor general Julia Sabatino.

Several hours north of New Paltz sits SUNY Canton where Chris Klassen is building a ‘Roos program that was 1-24 when he took over. Klassen told us about his journey from Tucson, Arizona to Oskaloosa, Iowa and eventually very Upstate New York.

He’s also dealing with a season-altering injury, though he’s thankfully on the other side of that trial. Natalie Bartle came to SUNY Canton after being named the 2023 Coast-to-Coast Player of the Year at Finlandia, a few months before Finlandia closed. She started her SUNY Canton career with a series of stellar performances that landed her on the national Team of the Week. Then Bartle suffered a season-ending injury eight games into that season.

Bartle is working her way back from that injury with this weekend’s losses to Redlands and St. Vincent marking just her second and third games of the season. Klassen is integrating her into his roster with the help of his assistant coach, strength and conditioning coach, and wife Katie Klassen.

“Her passion is fitness,” Chris explains. “It’s really cool that she was a college basketball and soccer player so she’s been through what all our girls are going through and being able to put her in charge of our strength and conditioning program is a great asset because she’s all of five-two…and a quarter…but she can throw weight around like nobody’s business.”

Holko, Seward, and Klassen demonstrate everything you’d want from someone charged with building a basketball program, coaching young women into adulthood, and driving your sleep-deprived team three hours back home off a six-hour flight.

And players like Fitzgerald show that effort pays off.