Ress emerges for BC at just the right time

Her team was horrible. Kathrin Ress was only 15 at the time, so you can hardly blame her if the Boston College people came away less than astonished at the talent level of the young Italian center.

The Eagles were in the midst of a European tour in the summer of 2001, and naturally, they had their eyes open for future prospects for their program.

But after they pounded the Parma club team, it was hard to imagine anyone from that squad playing Division 1 basketball in America.

"We beat them kind of badly," said BC coach Cathy Inglese. "But Kathrin kind of caught my attention. She had good fundamentals. She could do some things facing the basket. She wasn't one of those players who just stands in the post and does nothing.

"And she had size. We liked her size."

Even back then, Ress was already about 6 feet 2 inches. That was tall enough for the BC coaching staff to add her name to a list of hundreds of potential recruits, and to establish a loose overseas relationship with her.

In the aftermath of the BC shellacking, Ress called her brother Tomas, who was playing for Texas A&M, and told him he was right: Those Americans really do know how to play basketball.

One year later, when the BC staff followed up on Ress, they were delighted to learn she had grown another inch. By the time she decided to follow her brother to America and spend her senior year of high school at Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy in Wheeling, W.Va., she was 6-4.

"She played in a shootout weekend," Inglese said. "All of a sudden everyone saw her. All of a sudden people wanted her."

A barrage of scholarship offers followed. Ress narrowed her choices to Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Colorado, and BC.

"It was a hard time to decide," she said. "I guess I chose BC because they recruited me first. They came to Europe to see me. I thought that was very nice."

Long before Ress arrived at The Heights last fall, BC learned one of her teammates in Italy was a professional player, and therefore Ress would be ineligible for some games. Inglese braced for a penalty she expected would be around seven or eight games. But the NCAA wanted an eye for an eye, and penalized Ress 12 games, the same amount she had played alongside the professional.

So now the new player, who would learn English as a third language (Ress is also fluent in German), would have to adjust to a new climate, a new school, a new culture, and a new team -- all from the bench.

"I did OK with the language," Ress said. "One day we were in the cafeteria, and Lisa Macchia went up to get some candies. She was eating those Gummy Worms. I asked her, `Can I have one of those serpents?' They all laughed very hard at that."

It was agonizing to sit. As other freshmen learned by trial and error on the floor, Ress was limited to learning with her eyes and ears. She was not allowed to travel, so when the team played on the road, teammates called her after the game to let her know how it had gone.

"We never left her out of anything," said Clare Droesch. "We wanted her to feel part of things."

The team had a habit of good naturedly berating each other, yelling "You idiot!" when someone did something really stupid -- or something amazing. Ress, trying to join in the fun, picked a moment, then shouted, "You dumb!"

"She has a little trouble following our jokes at times," Droesch said.

Ress asked a lot of questions about defensive schemes and offensive plays. She loved to drive to the basket but still hadn't learned how to use her body to its fullest advantage. She traveled too much, and fouled too much, and sometimes didn't shoot enough.

Her college debut was Jan. 7 against Providence, and she posted a typical freshman line: 13 minutes, 4 points, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls, and 1 rebound. Ten days later, she had 13 points and 5 rebounds in a loss to Connecticut.

"I don't think they knew anything about me that first game," said Ress. "And in the second game, they tried to get me in foul trouble, which they did."

The third tryst with UConn was in the Big East semifinals last week. Ress had been dismal in the first round against Syracuse, then brilliant against Miami in the quarterfinals leading up to the biggest game of the season.

"She hadn't been playing great," said Droesch. "The coaches had been pretty hard on her, so I figured she could use some confidence. I told her she had to go from one game to the next. I told her she had to enjoy the games when she played well, and couldn't sulk after the other ones.

"I told her flat-out that if she had a big game, we'd win."

The young Italian center delivered. She shot 8 of 11 from the floor, had 18 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 1 steal. She played all 40 minutes in BC's upset of the Huskies, and when she was done, she yelled to her teammates, "You dumb!"

"She still has a lot to learn," said Droesch, "but if she's doing this well now, if I were the other coaches, I'd be scared to death of her by her senior year."

Earlier this season, Inglese wasn't sure where her team was headed. Now the Eagles are Big East champions and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they have a rising young star who has only begun to realize her potential.

"Kathrin brings us up a level," said Inglese. "We have such a great veteran backcourt, and now, with a post presence, it becomes tough to stop the inside and the outside game."

Make no mistake about it: The leaders of this team are the guards, Jessalyn Deveny and Amber Jacobs. But they couldn't be happier with the progress of their young center, who is called, simply, "Italy."

"She's been a huge spark," said Droesch. "We're with her all the way."

They even share their serpents with her.

Jackie MacMullan is a Globe columnist. Her e-mail address is macmullan@globe.com.