JOHN KOVACH | Colleges Mongillo looking to teach, coach youth basketball

NORTH CANTON -- After scoring more than 2,000 points combined for her college and high school basketball career, Emily Mongillo is looking forward to teaching younger players the skills of the game.
"I want to work in elementary [school] and coach basketball. I'd like to coach high school," said Mongillo, a senior shooting guard for the Walsh University women's basketball team, who recently wound up her collegiate career with 1,041 points.
Mongillo scored 307 of her points this season with a 9.9-point average, and led the team in 3-point goals with 53, as the Cavaliers achieved a 20-11 record, including 9-9 in the American Mideast Conference South. The 20-win season was the fourth in school history.
Walsh lost its opener in the AMC tournament to Roberts Wesleyan, 88-79.
Lot of experience
Mongillo, besides having the talent and know-how to transfer to younger players as a coach, also has the experience of playing basketball since she was 9-years-old.
"I started playing in third grade and went to camps every single summer, three or four camps a summer," said Mongillo, who was encouraged to play at a young age by her older sister, Meghan, and father, Bob, who played football at Duquesne University.
"[Meghan] would go to the camps and I would go with her, Also my dad would work with me," she added. "He wanted us to play sports and he would send us to camps, and we would shoot around at home. We have two hoops. We had a tennis court and changed it to a basketball court."
Meghan Mongillo played at Crestview High and won a volleyball scholarship to Robert Morris College. She is a news reporter with WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Emily Mongillo scored 1,139 career points during her career at Crestview, for coach Tanja Simione. She averaged almost 17 points as a senior and made the All-Ohio second team, after averaging 18 points as a junior to make All-Ohio honorable mention.
Lots of practice
Mongillo credits her long-term scoring consistency to practice.
"Ever since high school and in the summer, I would shoot around a lot. I would shoot a lot before practice and games. I wanted to get extra shots in to keep my shot good. A lot of it is repetition."
She also said her team's offenses were set up to get her the ball.
"[My teammates] set a lot of screens for me and there are design plays and every one looks at the open shooter and try to get me the ball."
Mongillo surpassed the 1,000-point mark on Feb. 17 in the Cavaliers' 65-57 loss to Ohio Dominican in which she scored 14 points. She followed that with a 17-point performance in Walsh's 70-54 win over Mount Vernon Nazarene.
Mongillo's 1,041 career points rank No. 12 all-time at Walsh. No. 1 is Melanie Scheetz with 1,944 points, followed by Marcy Harper (1,682) and Ashley Norman (1,662), a senior on this year's team.
During the regular season, Mongillo shot 42.9 percent from the field, including 38.8 from 3-point range, and 69.6 at the foul line.
Her biggest supporters have been her mother, Margo, and her father.
"Both of my parents come to almost all of my games, most of the home games and some away," said Mongillo.
kovach@vindy.com