Like most star college athletes, Cortney Poirier-Graney '10 started out as a dominant high school athlete. At Brushton-Moira Central, Poirier played basketball, soccer and volleyball. On the hardwood she was twice named the Northern Athletic Conference MVP. She scored 2,076 points in her four seasons, the second most in Section X history. This July 29, she was inducted into the Brushton-Moira Athletic Hall of Fame. If Poirier's athletic career had stopped there, it still would have been quite a story. Fortunately for SUNY Potsdam it didn't and this Saturday, Poirier can add the Bears Athletics Hall of Fame to her list of accomplishments.
As Poirier was nearing the end of high school she knew she wanted to continue to play at the college level. Several factors were important in her choice.
"I knew that if I went local that my family could be there," said Poirier. "And not only that. I really wanted to go somewhere where I could make a difference on the court. I knew that Potsdam was close and that it was a Division III college."
Poirier was recruited by then Bears Head Coach Tara Ruckh, who was in her second season, and liked what she had to offer.
"I really liked the atmosphere at Potsdam and I really liked her team and the way she coaches," Poirier said. "I was able to watch her (Ruckh coach) a few times. I really liked that whole setup. That definitely persuaded me to look into Potsdam. I worked out with the girls a couple times and played pick up. I knew I would be a good fit."
Ruckh immediately saw the ability in Poirier.
"She really wasn't going through the recruiting process, so it I thought I might have a good opportunity to snag her," said Ruckh. "You could tell right away she was talented. She was fast. She had that kind of edge to her where she was a gamer and wanted to win. So I stayed in touch with her and went to a lot of her high school games."
The effort paid off. Poirier hit Potsdam's campus in the fall of 2006 to begin the start of the women's basketball program's most successful era and join some other North Country standouts. However, as talented Poirier was, she had to overcome some nerves when preseason started.
"I was so intimidated because I knew the girls I had played against in high school like Mo Curley and Kelsey Shoen (both from Madrid-Waddington)," said Poirier. "Those girls that we played against in high school and were very competitive against each other and were out to get blood on the court. Now I had to be their teammate. It was definitely intimidating going out and realizing we're on the same team. Trying to play together instead of against each other. So that was an interesting experience. We're great friends now obviously and we clicked right off. We all wanted one thing and that was to win."
The 2006-07 Bears were a young team and waited for Poirier to show what she brought to the program.
"I think they really weren't sure what to expect because of my competitive nature and I didn't care what it took to win," Poirier said. "That was my goal. I think they started to appreciate that more and more. And they realized this is someone they wanted to play with."
The local rivalries made for an interesting team building process, but worked out in the end.
"They would play the game that we wanted to play, but they were also super competitive," Ruckh said. "And the practices were competitive. They got after each other. Cortney is a type A personality and so was Rachel Graf and there was some conflict. Practices were good because they were feisty. It was something that helped us become better as a team overall in dealing with conflict and adversity as far as playing in games. It was kind of like the perfect storm as far as having that group of Section X kids that were just really good players."
Poirier made her collegiate debut against Lycoming College at St. John Fisher's Holiday Inn Invitational on Nov. 17, 2006. Thanks in part to Poirier's team-leading 14 points and eight rebounds, the Bears downed the Warriors 64-55. After falling to the host Cardinals in the championship game, Potsdam returned to Maxcy Hall to defeat Keystone College on Nov. 21 and Clarkson a week later. It was a 3-1 start for a team that had won just two games the previous season.
The rest of the year was a grind for the young Bears, alternating wins and losses, but they finished the regular season with an 11-14 record. Their 6-10 mark in the SUNYAC earned them the first of four consecutive playoff berths. Potsdam bowed to Cortland in the quarterfinals despite nine points from Poirier and 13 from Curley.
Poirier scored 331 points as a freshman, leading the team in scoring with 12.7 points-per-game, while starting all 26 contests. The season proved to Poirier and her teammates that they were capable of bigger things.
"I think what stood out was I knew that year coming in we were building a team," said Poirier. "I was actually shocked we made the playoffs. Coming out of that year I knew we had a very strong team as far as all the girls we were going to be playing with. We were inexperienced though that first year, but we were getting better. We were doing all the right things and on track to get somewhere in the next couple of years. I think we didn't come in with high expectations, but we all knew we wanted to get there and that it takes practice and experience."
After just one season, Ruckh was extremely impressed with what Poirier brought to the floor.
"She utilized her speed and tenacity and her quick hands and getting herself to the rim," Ruckh added. "She was good at those things. We tried to some things offensively that allow her to be her. Same thing defensively. I let her go defensively and she was able to create turnovers."
With all of her abilities, Ruckh knew she could still encourage Poirier to push herself to be even better.
"Then we started to challenge her because she wasn't a very good perimeter shooter," Ruckh said. "She could get herself to the rim and hang around and get steals because she was a good anticipator, but we started to talk about where she wanted her game to go. I remember having conversations with her and saying we really need to start working on extending your range and being consistent with it. We got her in the gym a ton and by her senior year she was a pretty good 3-point shooter. She really wanted to keep working at getting better because she knew that if she was better, then we would be better. She wanted to be at the next level. She and I had plenty of time in the gym and in my office talking about how we were going to get there."
The slightly surprising success of Poirier's first season primed her for an even better 2007-08 campaign. The Bears raced out to an 8-4 start and a 4-0 mark in the conference. After a midseason lull, Potsdam closed out the regular season with four victories its last five games. Their 11-5 SUNYAC record clinched the Bears another quarterfinal berth. Poirier scored 16 points, but New Paltz escaped with a 70-61 victory. The strong season earned Poirier's squad an ECAC Tournament bid and a first round home game. In the friendly confines of Maxcy Hall, Poirier lit up RIT with 21 points for a 73-60 win. Against Oneonta in the championship game, Potsdam led by one at the half, before bowing 53-45. The Bears finished the season with a 16-12 mark and Poirier added another 464 points to her career numbers, averaging 16.5 ppg. in 28 games. She was rewarded with a spot on the All-SUNYAC second team.
While Poirier was got off to a quick start as a student-athlete at Potsdam, her path as a student wasn't as clear cut.
"As far as school goes, I went to Potsdam and I had no idea what I wanted to do," Poirier said. "That's like any other kid that just wants to go and play sports, something they love, and they're used to. Academically I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Over time my advisor was pushing me to pick a career and by my junior year I was able to pick Chemistry. Once I was able to get into the Chemistry field and into the lab I really, really, liked it. They have a great Chemistry department at Potsdam."
Poirier credits the team's academic coordinator at the time, Dr. Richard DelGuidice for motivating her to be successful as a student.
"I want to acknowledge Dr. D," said Poirier. "My freshman year was not a good year academically. His job was to make sure that all the freshmen were starting to get used to the way college works and the way academics work for sports. He always stressed that we were students first and athletes second. I remember during my freshman year it was not going great at all for academics and I think I was just being lazy. You go to college and you think this is fun. No one's bossing me around and telling me what to do and I get to play basketball. How cool is that?"
One meeting in particular helped turn Poirier's academic fortunes around.
"He brought me into his office and he was so strict," Poirier said. "He was very intimidating. He lectured me for a good hour and I just sat there staring at him. Dr. D was like 'you have to pick a major. You can't go through college taking your liberal arts and playing basketball.' What really helped too is that I'm so competitive. That's just my nature. It was almost like I'm going to prove him wrong. He thinks I can't do that. I'm sure he knew exactly what he was doing because that's my personality. When someone tells you can do something, what are you going to do? Prove them wrong. I'm sure he saw that in my 18-year-old self and used reverse psychology."
The newly minted Chemistry major and a veteran corps of Bears entered the 2008-09 season with the highest expectations of their careers.
"That year we knew that it would be our year," said Poirier. "I had two years' experience playing at that point. Our seniors were strong. They all came in together. At the beginning of the year we went through our roles as players and how we're going to get to the championship. Everybody was on board. Everybody knew their role and knew what they needed to do. We executed throughout the season. It was such a fun year. We were winning and when we did lose, we just all wanted to do better."
Potsdam lost its 2008-09 season opener to the University of New England 69-65. The loss motivated the Bears and they responded by reeling off a school record 11 wins in a row, capped by an 86-42 win over Canton. However, winters in the North Country are long and the team struggled at midseason, posting a 1-6 record over the next seven contests.
Led by Poirier, Potsdam showed its resilience by closing out the regular season with a 5-3 record in its last eight games. Finishing with an 8-8 mark in conference play, the Bears earned a quarterfinal rematch with New Paltz. Potsdam raced out to an early lead before hanging on for a 62-61 win to advance to the semifinals.
Top-seeded SUNY Cortland would be the Bears next target. The Red Dragons beat up Potsdam 80-63 in Cortland on January 30 and edged the Bears 67-61 in Welsh Gymnasium on February, 17. Coach Ruckh had a message for her Bears heading into the rubber match.
"She said 'you cannot beat a team three times in a row. I'm telling you guys right now there's no way they're going to beat us.' And she was right. We went out there and we were confident and beat them."
"It was just one of those things where we always played them well when we played well at their place," said Ruckh. "I needed them to believe that they can't beat us three times. We were right there."
In the season's third meeting, the teams tangled in a tight contest before the Bears pulled out a 64-59 upset. Poirier scorched Cortland with 24 points, seven rebounds and five steals.
"I feel like that game all of us clicked," Poirier said. "Everybody had such a good game and was doing all of the right things. We were doing things that we worked for the whole season."
Ruckh agrees.
"We played great," Ruckh said. "I remember after winning that game, my hands were shaking. I was like, I can't believe that just happened. We did exactly what we wanted to. We followed our game plan. Cortland has always been kind of a good matchup for us. Their style is a good match up for the way that we played. We shot the lights out. We worked really hard and did some great things."
In the program's first ever appearance in the conference championship game, Potsdam played more inspired basketball. It took a mid-second half rally for Brockport to break the Bears' hearts with a 57-51 victory.
The season ended a week later as Potsdam was edged 69-64 by Ithaca in the first round of the ECAC Tournament. Poirier's junior year was her finest as she averaged 17.2 ppg. on 499 points in 29 games. She also captured first team All-SUNYAC honors. It was also the finest season in team history with a school record 17 wins. The season was bittersweet for her personal and program success, but it also marked the graduation of many of Poirier's close friends and teammates.
In the fall of 2009, Poirier joined the Bears women's soccer team.
"Soccer was a little bit different because it really wasn't my strong point in high school," said Poirier. "As an athlete I was thinking, I know I'm pretty good, but at the same time I was thinking that this is DIII soccer. Over the years I started talking to the (soccer) girls and got to know them. Coming from a small college is really nice because you know all the athletes. A lot of them encouraged me to come out for the team. I considered trying out my sophomore year, but I decided I really wanted to focus on basketball. Then I realized I was going to stay an extra semester to finish up my Chemistry degree. So I knew I'd have extra time to play soccer and I thought that was worthwhile, especially since I wouldn't be able to play basketball my fifth year. I loved it. I loved the girls. They were fantastic and so friendly."
Walking on three years after her last soccer game, Poirier led the team in scoring with 10 goals and seven assists in an 8-9-1 season. She hardly appeared to have missed a beat.
When she returned to the basketball court for her senior season, Poirier and the team got off to a slow start. With some new personnel and a possible hangover from the previous season, Potsdam opened the year 1-13. She still can't explain it.
"I don't know what it was," Poirier said. "I don't know if I was missing my teammates (graduated seniors) or what, but you can see in my scoring that I was in a rough spot. I think we lost 12 games in a row and my scoring was like 4.6 ppg. Coach Ruckh was like 'this isn't you.' I just couldn't get out of that rut that I was in. I think it was just coming off of a bitter ending to last season. Now we had kind of a whole new team and a whole new chemistry to build again. I had Mo, Kelsey and Hannah (Fairchild), all of those girls and now they're gone. It was really hard to start without them and it felt weird."
Ruckh understood.
"I think it just took a little bit of time to find out what kind of player she was going to be that year and also what kind of team we were going to be," said Ruckh. "A lot of it too was that you're used to playing with a certain group. She played with them for three years. You know what people's strengths and weaknesses are and you can pick each other up. I think it took a little while to figure out what was our identity. Also, when you have all those other players, you can't target just one person defensively. So now it's Cortney's team and you're geared up to take her away. I think she actually saw some more difficult defense after that year because people knew to key on her. That's where she started to settle a little bit for outside jumpers instead of playing her game. But she became a fantastic one-on-one defender her senior year."
Fortunately, Poirier and the Bears did figure it out. Beginning with a 59-56 victory at Brockport on Jan. 23, 2010, the Bears ripped off six straight wins. Six days later, Poirier set the program's single-game scoring record with 37 points in a 66-60 win at New Paltz. Despite struggling again after the streak, Potsdam clinched its fourth straight playoff appearance. The season and Poirier's basketball career came to a close on Feb. 23 in a 67-52 loss at New Paltz.
Poirier's 17.7 ppg. that season set the program record and she earned her second straight first team All-SUNYAC honor. In her four seasons, she started all 108 games she played and totaled a program record 1,736 points. She also amassed 560 rebounds, 341 steals and 273 assists.
Poirier's last hurrah in a Bears uniform came during the fall of 2010 on the soccer pitch. Again she led the team in scoring with 11 goals and six assists for 28 points and the team matched the program record with 10 wins. Despite just two seasons with the soccer team, Poirier's 55 points rank fifth all-time and her 21 goals are fourth best.
She graduated from Potsdam that December, but left with more than her Chemistry degree and athletic accolades. She had also found her future husband in Bears men's basketball player Brendan Graney '10.
"We started dating my freshman year in Oct. (2006) so we were together all of our college years," said Poirier. "We always played in the gym together and shot around and yes I did beat him if you were wondering. I really didn't, but I always joked with him that I could beat him even though he's 6-4 and a lot bigger than me. Brendan really was my biggest supporter. It was nice that he played basketball as well because we were always pushing each other to be better."
After graduation, the couple moved to the Albany area, where they both found jobs. They were married on Aug. 31, 2013. Just over a year later, Poirier took a position in Glens Falls with CR Bard and has been there ever since.
"I absolutely love my job and a lot of people can't say that," Poirier said. "My boss is really flexible and she understands the difference between family and work. Not only that, I really enjoy the work we do. We're working on medical devices and we know these are going to patients eventually. So our work is quality and want to make sure that everything we're doing is perfect."
On Aug. 12, 2015, the Graneys welcomed daughter Clare.
"We already have her basketball out," said Poirier. "My husband always does a little bit of coaching so we always bring her to the gym and she runs around. It's a lot of fun."
Ruckh still has a strong bond with Poirier and enjoys following her development as a person and mother, just as she did as a player.
"She was the best player in the history of the program," said Ruckh. "I got to be a part of helping her grow and also be a part of watching her do the things that she does so well. I value those moments. She was a special player and she's a special person and I'm super proud of her."
Poirier's family and Ruckh played their parts in bringing her to Potsdam and they will be present when she is celebrated as the 134th addition to the Bears Hall of Fame on Saturday night.
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Cortney Poirier-Graney (left) with presenter and former Bears head coach Tara Ruckh (center) and AD Jim Zalacca.
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