By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The start of her women's basketball career at Bridgewater State University was delayed in November of 2021.

Kylie Grassi (Plymouth, Mass.) was unable to play in the opening three games of her freshman season because she tested positive for COVID.

"After that, it was tough to come back and get my stamina back up," said Grassi. "I knew I had to really grind to earn my playing time."

Following that brief setback at the beginning of the 2021-22 season, though, Grassi wound up becoming a starter for 12 games as a freshman and established the foundation for a top notch career with the Bears.

She made the All-Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference second team that freshman season and was the MASCAC player of the year as a sophomore when BSU won the conference championship.

This season, Grassi leads the MASCAC in scoring with a 21.4 average and on Wednesday night with a 3-pointer late in the first quarter against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, in the 16th game of her junior season, she became the 20th BSU player to score at least 1,000 points.

Grassi enters Saturday afternoon's game at Worcester State University with 1,010 points to rank 18th on the school's all-time list. With the remainder of this season and her senior year to go, Grassi needs 355 points to break BSU's scoring record held by Jenna Williams (1,365 points from 2010-14).

The Plymouth North High graduate had 206 points in 22 games as a freshman, then scored 461 points last year, the third-highest total ever at BSU. She currenntly has 343 points in 2023-2024 with nine regular-season games remaining plus postseason play.

Grassi was recruited by Western Connecticut State and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth during her senior year at Plymouth North. But the distance from home to Western Connecticut State didn't make that an appealing option, and UMass Dartmouth didn't have the major she was interested in.

Then, Grassi got a message from her high school teammate, Caroline Tripp, who was a freshman on the BSU team when Grassi was a high school senior.

"I don't know if she was joking around, but she texted me one day randomly during my senior year in early February and was like, 'Have you decided yet? My coach is asking about you,'"  said Grassi. "I said I hadn't decided and didn't love either school I was talking to. I started talking to coach (Bridgett) Casey. I came to watch one of the practices and ended up loving the school.

"I really wanted to stay close to home. I just loved the environment and how it's close to home. It has a health science major, which sets you up for anything in the medical field you can think of."

So she was reunited with Tripp, her point guard at Plymouth North, and they have enjoyed success ever since.

Grassi averaged 9.4 points as a freshman, and she made such an overall impact to the 20-8 Bears that she made the All-MASCAC second team.

"I was working very hard in practice,'' she said. "By the time we played MASCAC games, I was getting really good minutes as a freshman.

"It's very different from high school to college. You don't realize it until you're on the court playing. For me, the change was good. The style we play is very fast paced. For me personally, I love pushing the ball and getting out and running like we do here. I try to keep my endurance up so I never need a lot of breaks down the court."

Grassi built on what she did as a freshman by emerging as the MASCAC's top player as a sophomore last season.

She became the first BSU player since Colleen Feeney in 2008 to be selected the conference's player of the year and was second in the MASCAC, averaging 17.1 points.

"When you're a freshman, you're scared to make any mistakes," said Grassi. "You're playing against players who had been playing college basketball a few years. It took some time. I had to work my confidence up. I was scared to shoot the ball or making mistakes. You just have to have faith in your skills. I put up extra shots and tried to improve.

"I was definitely a lot more confident my sophomore year. At that point, I knew what the real college style was like and I knew what kind of player I could be and what I could provide to the team. I understood my role. I had confidence in my skills."

This season, BSU is off to a 3-0 start in the MASCAC and Grassi's 21.4 scoring average is four points higher than anyone else in the conference. She ranks 18th nationally in Division 3 in scoring average.

Grassi has a well rounded offense game, taking advantage of BSU's fast-breaking offense with Tripp often finding her in transition.

"She's what we call a stretch guard," said Casey of the 5-foot-8 Grassi. "She can take people off the drive. She's got that long stretch to finish and she's really working on her outside shot, so she's a threat from anywhere on the court.

"She can score down low, outside and at the free throw line."

Grassi became the first BSU player to reach 1,000 points since current assistant coach Chanelle Melton did so in 2018.

It was rewarding for Grassi because she fell about 60 points shy of 1,000 in high school. COVID limited her senior season to only about 10 games, costing Grassi the chance to reach the milestone.

"That one hurt,'' said Grassi. "I'm very happy and thankful to get the opportunity in college. It was something in high school where I was so close to getting it and I could have if I had a full season. It's special to do it here."

For Grassi, winning another MASCAC championship and getting back to the NCAA Division 3 tournament is what she is setting her sights on.

"I try not to focus on personal goals,'' she said. "Now I'm just focused on winning another championship and doing it again next year, too.

"Last year was such a surreal feeling. We were down by 23 at one point (in the MASCAC title game). There was a full gym. The energy and the feeling of that day is undescribable. You can only wish to do that again. It's up to us to push each other and get that ring again. It's such a special feeling."

Bridgewater State has been a perfect fit for Grassi, who is thrilled that Tripp pointed her in the direction of the Bears while she was searching for a school.

"I thank her every day," said Grassi.