Hahne lands role she sought
Wake Forest transfer a big contributor for Danes in early going
After two seasons at Wake Forest, during which time the Demon Deacons were 26-36 and her playing time started to dwindle, Ellen Hahne figured she had more to offer as a college basketball player.
She said she wanted a bigger role and hoped to find one by transferring to the University at Albany.
“I enjoyed my time at Wake Forest,” Hahne said Wednesday during a Ualbany media availability, “but I felt like I wanted a different role on the team, and I didn’t think that I would be able to have that role at
Wake.”
Be careful what you wish for. Hahne, a 5-foot-11 guard from Stockholm, averaged 36 minutes in the Great Danes’ first three games and leads the team in scoring (14.7 points per game) and rebounding (9.3).
“The kid came in in amazing shape,” Ualbany coach Colleen Mullen said. “She plays so hard all the time. She wins every sprint, every drill, sacrifices her body. She’s like an animal everywhere, and I just knew she was going to be able to attack the game. When she was able to get a (NCAA) waiver to play right away, we knew that that was going to be a huge piece of the puzzle.”
Ualbany (1-2), which begins America East Confer
ence play Saturday at MarylandBaltimore County, had some advantages in luring Hahne. The Danes already have a Swedish player in Helene Haegerstrand, who played with Hahne on the country ’s national team.
“Ellen went into the transfer portal,” Mullen said, “and Helene came to us and said, ‘Hey, my friend is leaving Wake Forest, she’s in the transfer portal. She has an uncle that lives in Saratoga and she has family in Connecticut, and I would love to play with her. Do we need a player that plays really hard?’ I was like, ‘ We always need a player that plays really hard.’ “
In Ualbany ’s upset victory Sunday at Seton Hall, Hahne had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Haegerstrand contributed 26 points and five rebounds.
“Ellen is so tough,” said Hae
gerstrand, a 6-1 sophomore who is second on the team in scoring. “She would do anything to win, and we need that kind of player competing on our team. She’s been amazing, and she’s tough on the defensive end,
too.”
Hahne’s career at Wake Forest showed promise early. She started 10 of 30 games, averaging 14.2 minutes per game. As a sophomore, she played only 23 games, and her court time
dropped to 4.7 minutes.
That led to her decision to transfer. In addition to Haegerstrand, Hahne also knows Amanda Kantzy, a senior on last year’s team from Spanga, about 10 miles northeast of Stockholm.
“It was a tough decision to make,” Hahne said, “but when I talked to the coaches here at Ualbany, I quickly knew that this would be a good fit for me. ... I know Helene from before, and I know Amanda, as well. Just knowing that they enjoyed being here made it easier for me to make the decision to come here.”
“I want to recruit players that have high motors and want to play really hard,” Mullen said. “That Swedish connection, also the connection from Amanda Kantzy telling me about Helene, we’re going to continue to try to work that as much as we can.”