Women's Basketball: Micir makes her mark in second year

Whether it’s leading her high school basketball team to two state championships or graduating as valedictorian of her class, success seems to follow her wherever she goes. Currently, her effort is focused on the Princeton women’s basketball team, and unsurprisingly, the sophomore guard leads the Tigers in scoring.

Growing up in Newton, Pa., she attended Council Rock North High School, where she was a three-season athlete, earning all-state honors in basketball and field hockey. Her older sister motivated her to start playing basketball in third grade. After starting at Council Rock, she transformed the basketball program into a powerhouse in Pennsylvania, leading the school to two state championships. She counts this as one of her “proudest moments” at Council Rock.

Though she was an outstanding athlete in field hockey and lacrosse, her passion laid with basketball.

“It is my favorite sport to play,” Micir said. “You get to play offense and defense and not just one position. I always had great coaches and teammates, and that’s what made it fun for me to keep playing.”

When she arrived at Princeton, she attributed her success on the court to the guidance of older teammates.

“Ali Prichard [’08] and Meg Cowher [’08] were the first seniors I had,” Micir said. “They showed me what it was like to be a Princeton Tiger. All of the upperclassmen really helped us [freshmen] understand what it meant to be a Tiger.”

Going back to her Council Rock days, she has always played point guard. Once she got to Princeton, head coach Courtney Banghart “told me whatever role I needed to play I could play.”

“There’s no doubt that Addie is a very important cog in our wheel,” Banghart said after the season opener against Fordham. “Our system is based on five creating for one, but Addie’s versatility — her ability to pass, to make big shots and to play any position on the floor — makes her very valuable to our program.”

One issue Micir faced last year was being injured through the season. Micir suffered from a stress fracture for most of the Ivy League season. Micir averaged 7.5 points per game, good for second on the team in scoring, during her freshman season.

Cowher was the dominant force offensively for Princeton last season, so Micir had to learn to play more of a supporting role.

“[A big challenge was] trying to fit into a system and be a part of a team game,” Micir said. “Everyone comes from high school being a great player, so it’s a little hard trying to mesh with the team. But that was easy here because everyone on the team is awesome.”

One of her proudest moments at Princeton was beating Penn this past January. Micir made a career-high 22 points in the game, stamping out Penn 69-57. She can also take pride in playing Rutgers to a six-point game in 2007.

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“Being able to play those big teams is something I’ll always remember,” Micir said.

Despite a huge loss against Rutgers at the beginning of this season, the Tigers have rebounded, largely due to the tremendous skill from Micir. Against Fordham, Princeton was down in the first half but made an amazing recovery to win the game 69-57 with Micir spurring the turnaround. In her next two games, Micir continued her stellar performance. She contributed tremendously with 20 points against Stony Brook, routing the Seawolves, 88-41. While playing Farleigh Dickinson, Micir helped turn the game around in the middle of the first half. She averages 12.4 points per game and ranks 36th in the nation in free-throw percentage, shooting 20 for 22 for 90.9 percent.

Growing up, Micir watched a lot of professional basketball and draws inspiration from the best NBA players that she sees on the court.

“I always like to watch Dirk Nowitski,” she said. “Right now, he’s my favorite player to watch and try to emulate. He’s a really fun player to watch.”

Micir is also true to her Philly roots, though, and is a huge ’76ers fan.

“I really loved Allen Iverson back when he was on the team. That was probably the heyday of my fanhood.”

A prospective psychology major, Micir said she has no idea what she wants to do after Princeton. She explained that hopefully she’ll find a job, but if that doesn’t happen, she’d happily stay on the court and play overseas.

If Micir does make the trip across the pond, she’ll likely experience the same success she has at home. After all, she can do anything better than you.