Wayne State University Athletics

Carney, a native of Detroit and graduate of Detroit Rosary HS, was a forward in women's basketball at Wayne State, earning varsity letters in 1975, 1976 and 1977. During her three-year career with the Tartars, Carney set nine single-game, single-season and career records, two which still stand today. Carney is the first female athlete to be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame who has earned a varsity letter at the University. Prior to the early 1970's, women's athletics were conducted as club teams, or formed as student organizations, at most U.S. colleges and universities. For several decades at Wayne State, women represented the University in sports such as swimming and fencing, and some of these student-athletes are found in the Athletic Hall of Fame, including another inductee this afternoon, Astrid Johannesen. Bur varsity intercollegiate athletic competition for women is recent - the NCAA did not sanction national championships for women's athletics until 1982. Varsity women's basketball was established at Wayne State in 1974-75. Carney was a member of the Tartars' first team, after transferring from Schoolcraft College. Unfortunately, the statistics from the first year of varsity competition are lost, but it is known that Carney led the first Tartar roundball team in scoring with 256 points. She would also lead the team in scoring her junior and senior seasons, finishing with a single-season record 433 points in 1975-76, which stood for four seasons, and with 399 points in 1976-77. Other records Carney once held included Most Points, Career (1,088): Most Rebounds, Single Game (25 vs. Michigan, 1976-77); Most Rebounds, Single Season (278, 1976-77); Most Field Goals, Single Season (199, 1975-76); Most Field Goals, Career (381) and Most Assists, Single Game (11 vs. Ferris State, 1976-77). The two records Carney still holds are for Most Points in a Single Game, when she scored 38 against Delta in her first season at WSU, and Highest Field Goal Percentage in a Single Game, converting 10 of 12 attempts for a .833 completion percentage against Saginaw Valley State in 1976-77. It should be noted, however, that Carney would have held several other women's basketball records had they been kept in the early years of the sport. Today, they are over 25 individual record categories kept in basketball, but that wasn't the case in Carney's playing career. The box scores in those games are long lost to time now. Upon conclusion of her Wayne career, Carney was named the University's Outstanding Female Athlete-of-the-Year. Though WSU was a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1976-77, All-GLIAC teams were not chosen for women's sports at that time. After graduating from Wayne State in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Education, Carney taught at Berkley High School for two years, teaching special education and coaching the varsity girls' basketball team. In 1978 Berkley won their conference championship, and also won the Michigan High School state district play-offs. The following season Berkley advanced as far as the Michigan High School state regional finals before bowing out. In 1979-80 Carney embarked on a professional career in basketball, joining the Women's Basketball League for two seasons before it folded. The first season she played for the Milwaukee Does, then was a member of the Phoenix Flames in 1980-81. Before and after her professional career, Carney was a standout in AAU women's basketball, earning AAU All-America honors in 1978, 1979 and 1982 with the Detroit Cobras. She is still very active in recreational basketball and other sports. Carney moved back to the Detroit area last year after spending five years in Philadelphia, and resides in Birmingham. She is a corporate accounts manager for Herman Miller Inc.