Inspirational Women’s Basketball Movie to Hit Theaters

Before the University of Connecticut Huskies and the Lady Vols of Tennessee, there was another women’s basketball dynasty in the college ranks. 

The Mighty Macs of suburban Philadelphia’s Immaculata University garnered worldwide attention in 1972 when the team won the women’s college basketball championship. Now that story is being made into an inspirational film set to hit theaters Oct. 21.

Starring David Boreanz (Fox TV’s Bones) and Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn, The Mighty Macs tells the story of head basketball coach Cathy Rush, played by Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, Night at the Museum).

Rush, a Baptist, took the position at the all-girls Catholic school at a time when few women had careers and worked outside the home. The movie tells how Rush overcame gender obstacles and, with the help of nuns, took the scrappy group of girls to the women’s national championship.

“Every good sports movie is a metaphor for something else,” according to the film’s director Tim Chambers. “Just as the movie Miracle was set against the backdrop of the Cold War and Remember the Titans tackled race relations, The Mighty Macs is about the equality of dreams. About not letting ‘who you are’ get in the way of what you can achieve.”

The movie is Chamber’s feature-film directing debut and was originally titled Our Lady of Victory.

Atlanta-based communications agency Maximus Group is marketing the film. The firm specializes in marketing inspirational, Christian-themed movies. Previous hits have included The Passion of the Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Nativity Story and Fireproof.