Forward Maxine Engel is the lone senior on the women’s basketball team and the sole player who has spent her entire collegiate career with the Revs.
Of the five starters at last year’s season opener against Howard, none are on this year’s roster, and out of the 1,812 points netted last season, just 244 are accounted for by Revolutionaries on the roster for the upcoming 2023-24 season. In her fourth year on the team, Engel has emerged as a key leader and veteran presence among players filled with youth and inexperience.
But she wasn’t sure if basketball was in the cards when she came to GW. Engel started out at GW as a walk-on, opting to join the team without a scholarship offer. She said leaving behind her basketball career in her high school days in Memphis, Tennessee, was not an option she was willing to accept.
“I decided to play basketball because I didn’t want to regret walking away from it,” Engel said. “GW was a great school, firstly, academically, and just being in D.C., I met the staff, met the team and just realized I wanted to be a part of it. I walked on and worked really hard.”
After a high school basketball career where Engel netted more than 1,000 points by the time she was a junior, she joined the Revolutionaries and started in 11 out of the 19 games she played in during her freshman year, averaging 3.5 rebounds and 6.4 points per game. Her sophomore year, she started in two of the 14 games she played in, accumulating a total of 30 points across the season. In her first year, she also logged 66 rebounds, good for the most in her college career so far, compared to 38 during her junior year.
Entering her fourth year with the team, Engel will lead nine new players who joined the squad for the upcoming season, including three graduate students. Guard Paige Mott joins the Revolutionaries from Northwestern University, guard Makayla Andrews hails from Lafayette College and forward Mariona Plantes Fortuny comes from Lafayette and the international Spanish circuit.
“We were able to pick up some very experienced graduate transfers and 2 JUCO transfers that know the pace of college basketball, but I think my experience is particularly distinguished by having been a part of Coach McCombs’ GW team for going on my fourth year now,” Engel said. “That experience comes with knowing the ins and outs of the culture and standards that are expected along with knowing all things GW and how best to communicate with McCombs and the staff.”
Among the 14-person roster, Engel holds down a fresh roster full of new faces. More than half are new to the University, with four of the players being freshmen. She said she will work closely with new players as a voice off the court, helping them acclimate to the team and a college environment.
“Especially for our younger players, a big difference between high school and college basketball is the level of communication that is expected on the court,” Engel said. “I ensure people talk, encourage teammates and bring energy for most practices because not only does it make us better players on the court but also even better teammates.”
Last season, the women’s basketball team went 13-18 overall and 6-12 in Atlantic 10 play. Their season came to a grinding halt after a first-round loss against Saint Louis during the A-10 Championship. Out of the nine games she started in, Engel averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.
She said the team has worked closely to bond and create relationships on and off the court. She has worked closely with her position group, especially sophomore forward Sara Lewis, who she said she has played “really well” with.
“We’ve been here since the summer, so we’ve had that time to build that relationship, but now that we’re getting into the court, going against adversity like that’s obviously going to bring us together, but that’s the best part of basketball, your teammates, so I’ve enjoyed extending the family,” Engel said.
She said off the court, the team hangs out together in residence halls, grabs dinner around campus and in D.C. and see movies and shows. She said during practice, players huddle to praise each other’s performance.
“We constantly communicate on the court in drills and after drills to build up trust in each other and the chemistry that makes a team solid,” Engel said. “Additionally, we have a circle after every practice where we gather as only players and create a space for people to give each other shoutouts or praise from practice or even share areas of growth for the next day.”
Engel averaged a 28.6 3-point shooting success rate last season, the best in her college career thus far. In her game against Cheyney on Nov. 30, Engel scored a career-high 21 points during her 26 minutes played, boasting a 58.3 field goal percentage. Ahead of this season, Engel said she is looking to bolster her 3-point shooting.
“Increasing my 3-point percentage,” Engel said. “So just honing in on my shot, working with one of our new coaches that came in, Coach Novak, just getting lots of reps with that, getting confident finishing at the rim.”
Assistant Coach Doug Novak joins the Revs’ coaching staff for his first season. Engel said her bond with Novak — along with his daughter Mackenzie Novak who acted as the team’s director of player development during the 2022-23 season — and their collective understanding of her skill set have significantly built her offensive abilities, as well as her confidence on the court. He has coached her through footwork to keep her shots consistent, she said.
“He more so has helped me on the technical side of the ball offensively,” Engel said. “I’ve been encouraged to be a leader for a couple years now and have really had to step into a vocal leadership position instead of how I previously was more so leading by example. It is definitely a combination of the two this year.”
Engel said her team doesn’t hone in on specific goals but focuses on the everyday process of reaching success. Engel said the team is required to read “Pound the Stone” by Joshua Medcalf every summer ahead of the new season, a novel focused on the development of athletes’ grit in daily life. Engel, who has now read the book several times, said her copy is filled with a melee of different colored highlights and annotations representing each year with the program.
As the only senior on the team, Engel said she holds onto the notion of being a supportive teammate, inspired by a motto from former Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations John Square.
“Our old supervisor, John Square, told me my freshman year that people don’t remember what you did but remember how you made them feel,” Engel said. “I’m sure his knowledge is borrowed from Maya Angelou’s quote, but it still has stuck with me to this day and is in the back of my mind as I enter my senior season. And beyond that, I want us to win as a connected team.”
