Former University of Maine three-time All-America East second team selection Maeve Carroll will be playing professional basketball in Spain this season.
Carroll signed a one-year contract with Hierros Diaz Extremadura Miralville, which is in the Spain LF Challenge League. She will play for the team from September to March.
“I’m really excited,” said the 5-foot-11 Carroll, a native of Oakton, Virginia.
Carroll has been lifting and conditioning in preparation for her pro career and she has also been working on her shooting as much as she can.
She is just finishing up a six-week internship for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in Washington, D.C.
“It was a really cool internship. I saw a lot of things others wouldn’t get a chance to see. It’s pretty crazy down there,” she said. “It was pretty cool watching the voting on the floor.”
But she also realized there was more basketball in her.
“I got a little taste of the work life. It was awesome. But now I need to go play basketball.”
Carroll’s former UMaine teammate, Blanca Millan, played in the top division this past season for CB Gran Canaria, where she averaged 15.1 points per game over her last 16 games and finished averaging 10.4 ppg on the 30-game season.
“I don’t know much about the European game so I reached out to Blanca and Alba [Orois] and other teammates who played in Europe. I know there are some slight differences in the European game and some will appeal to my game,” Carroll said.
Orois was UMaine’s third team All-America East point guard this past season but the sophomore from Spain has left the university and is pursuing a pro career in Europe.
Carroll’s season will begin in September and she was told by her future coaches that they want her to expand her game.
“They want me to stretch it out and not play inside as much,” Carroll said.
“They like to play a more fast-paced game and push the ball in transition. We’re going to stretch the floor and go.”
She said she played more outside in high school but was used as a post player at UMaine.
“It was a matter of what I needed to do at Maine for us to be successful,” said Carroll, who is confident she will be able to hit mid-range jumpers.
Carroll played in 137 career games spanning five seasons at UMaine.
She was the 24th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. She also finished with 783 rebounds, which is ninth most in program history.
Carroll also had 291 assists, 144 steals and 81 blocked shots.
She averaged 7.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
Carroll graduated with a degree in finance and a masters in global policy.