St. Joseph grad Julie Spinelli immediately steps into starting lineup for Frostburg State women's basketball team

Just before her team faced Towson in an exhibition game, Frostburg State women’s basketball coach Jenna Eckleberry noticed freshman Julie Spinelli looked a little antsy. And Spinelli hadn’t even received the news that she was going to be in the starting lineup.

Having some butterflies isn’t unusual for a freshman. Spinelli’s trepidation was even more understandable for a freshman on a Division II team who was about to get her first taste of collegiate action against Division I competition.

“We hadn’t had a scrimmage or anything,” Eckleberry said.

So Eckleberry, seeing Spinelli’s demeanor, asked her if she would rather come off the bench. Would she be more comfortable seeing the speed of the game first?

But the St. Joseph grad wanted to start, and, Eckleberry said, she ended up making four 3-pointers against the team picked to finish third in the 14-team Coastal Athletic Association.

“She just completely did not look like a freshman out there,” the third-year coach said.

Two more exhibitions against bigger schools followed: at Maryland and at Coppin State. Eckleberry said Spinelli hit a 3-pointer against Coppin State with less than 30 seconds left to put Frostburg State up by one.

So by the time Frostburg State’s regular-season schedule kicked in, Spinelli was ready.

To be sure, there have been times through the Bobcats’ first 10 “real” games when the 5-foot-11 forward has looked like a freshman. For the most part, however, Spinelli has shown plenty of promise that she can be a mainstay in the Frostburg State lineup.

Spinelli started all 10 games, averaging 8.8 points and 5.0 rebounds more than 31 minutes per game. In the Bobcats’ first game of the season, against Winston-Salem State, Frostburg was clinging to a 61-60 lead with 42 seconds left when Spinelli made a 3-pointer that proved to be the deciding basket in a 66-63 victory. She added a late free throw to polish off the win.

Against West Virginia State on Dec. 7, she had her best game, scoring 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting with nine rebounds and a steal. She followed that with a 14-point (6 of 10 shooting), eight-rebound performance in a win over Concord.

And it isn’t as though Spinelli cracked the starting lineup on a team bereft of experience or expectations. Frostburg State has a half-dozen seniors/grad students on its roster — including last season’s Division II leading scorer and two-time All-American Emilee Weakley — and is picked to finish second in the Mountain East Conference behind Fairmont State.

“I just wanted to work as hard as I can,” she said. “Coming in, you don’t know what’s going to happen or how much playing time you’re going to get. But what determines that is how hard you work in the offseason.

“I knew that if I tried my best and worked really hard and practiced really hard that, whenever I came in, I at least gave it my all and I tried my best to put myself in the best position to help out the team.”

Eckleberry, who spent a season playing at Robert Morris before starring at Fairmont State, said she knew Spinelli had the capability to contribute immediately. Her length, ability to run the floor and triple-threat scoring capability — shooting from long range, mid-range or driving to the basket — Eckleberry said, made Spinelli a perfect fit for the Bobcats’ system.

On the flip side, Eckleberry also knew there would be challenges. First would be the big step up in competition. Spinelli would be going from a tiny Class A school to one of the better conferences in Division II.

Spinelli’s AAU experience was a help, but there would be a significant adjustment nonetheless.

Along with that came the need for Spinelli to increase her basketball IQ. She is watching more film and learning the importance of scouting her opponents.

Skill-wise, Spinelli said she is working on her ball-handling and making stronger drives to the basket. She also is learning there are things she could get away with in high school and AAU that aren’t going to work at the college level.

“Such as standing straight up on defense,” Eckleberry said. “Here, she’s just going to get blown by.”

The exhibitions, Spinelli said, were eye-openers.

“The first game felt like running back and forth like crazy,” she said. “I felt like everything was moving so fast. I definitely have adjusted pretty well for the most part.”

The Bobcats entered Sunday’s game at Glenville State at 7-3, 4-1 in the MEC. After Monday’s nonconference game at District of Columbia, the team has a break for the holidays before diving back into MEC play Jan. 8 against West Liberty.

Frostburg State has high expectations, and Spinelli is confident she can continue to make strides that will allow her to be a key player now and down the road.

“I feel like I am trying my best,” Spinelli said. “I’m doing some good things, but there’s definitely a lot of stuff that I need to work on and continue working on.

“I’ve been practicing hard, and I think if I continue to work on things that I need to do that I can get to where I really want to be.”