Joan was all about “firsts” when she was a standout for the Purple Eagles’ women’s basketball program. She was the first scholarship player in Niagara women’s basketball history, and was also the first to surpass the 1,000 career point mark. Joan scored 1,106 points, and averaged 11.3 points per game during her career. She still appears in the Niagara record book where she is “first” in all time field goal percentage, hitting 62.1 percent of her shots. During her career at Niagara, the Purple Eagles compiled a 84-19 record. She earned first-team Academic All-America honors in 1980, and at her 1980 commencement ceremony, she was the recipient of the Kevin Mulkern Award, which is presented annually o the senior student-athlete who has the highest ideals of sportsmanship, competition and fair play, in the spirit of Niagara University.  She was elected to the Niagara University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.