At one point in time, Kit Small never thought she would be playing college basketball—now, the Slingerlands, New York native is one of only four in Hawks women’s basketball history to achieve the milestone of 1,000 career points.
With 7:30 remaining in the second quarter against No. 7-ranked University of Rochester in front of a rowdy crowd of 600, the Hawks fourth-year co-captain retrieved a pass from fellow fourth-year Courtney Irby inside in the high post, faced up with one dribble and went to the right side, laying in the historic bucket during the second quarter on the night of Nov. 18.
With the routine lay-up, Small joins the elite trio of Robin Shields, Jasmine Sanchez and Alex McCullough as the exclusive members of Hawks past to reach the achievement. She is now included in the 97 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) women’s basketball players to ever reach the prestigious number.
Following the game, Small received congratulatory messages from all over, including a text from McCullough, the most recent Hawk to achieve the feat in 2013 that read, “welcome to the club.”
“It really is an honor, especially looking at the other people who have earned that,” Small said. “Being one of those few people and looking at the other people who have also earned 1,000 points in their career is really an honor to be in the same group as them.”
Small said that with only needing five points entering the contest, the plateau she was about to reach was easy to keep track of in the first few minutes of the game.
“I really didn’t want to think about it at all because I didn’t want it to be a distraction or in my head, so as soon as I got it done I thought ‘great, it’s over with’ and I just wanted to go win the game,” she said. “I didn’t even want to think about it. It definitely stunk that it didn’t come with a win against the University of Rochester because it would have made it that much more awesome to beat the No. 7 Div. III team in the country and get that milestone all in the same game.”
After the game, Seward commended his guard. For the Hawks, Small has become a leader for the younger players, just as those before her had done. Last year, she was a crucial part of the team’s SUNYAC Championship winning squad and individually took home ALL-SUNYAC First-Team honors, only a pair of the multiple accolades Small has earned during her illustrious Hawks career.
“She’s amazing,” Seward said. “It’s hard to put into words what she means to the team because she means so much, pretty much everything. As a player, she does so many different things. Obviously she scores but she leads, communicates, defends and rebounds.”
For only beginning basketball in the fifth grade, and being limited to nearly three minutes playing for her first Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) game, because of her defense-first mindset, Small has grown into the Hawks’ top scorer, leading the team in points per game since her freshman year.
From day one, Seward and the coaching staff asked Small to step up and be more aggressive looking to score. Ironically, for the player who only reached double digits once in her high school career, Small now ranks third all-time in career points throughout Hawks women’s basketball history. She trails Shields by 82 points for sole possession of first place.
“You know that she’s going to do what’s in the best interest of the team and she wants to win and have the team be successful more than anything else,” Seward said. “It’s just a really comforting and reassuring feeling to have that kind of player.”
Just like she does on a regular basis, Small will leave her mark on the Hawks women’s basketball program with a goal for the first-years to grow and in years to come, be able to continue on the success that she has made an impact on over the last four years.
After helping the Hawks to advance to the NCAA Tournament last season and losing 93-75 to Rowan University in the first round, Small said making it to the Final Four is a definite goal, and added that the eight first-years on this year’s roster will have the experience of games under their belts by the time they would make it to the biggest stage.
“I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be able to do that,” she said. “Once we make it there, it’s two more games, why can’t we just win the whole thing?”
Next for Small will be a celebration of her milestone. With a ceremony originally scheduled for the team’s home opener against Hartwick on Nov. 22, the honoree herself requested for it to be rescheduled to their next game at the Hawk Center on Dec. 6, so her family, who has attended every game but three in Small’s collegiate career could all be in attendance for the special day.
A player such as Small does not come along often for coaches, sometimes every five or six years, if they are lucky, Seward said.
“With me being a head coach for 11 years now, I’ve only had a couple of them and it’s pretty special when you have that,” he said. “It may be a cliché, but we’re going to just enjoy every day and really have fun being around that kind of player because they don’t come along very often.”
After helping the Hawks to advance to the NCAA Tournament last season and losing 93-75 to Rowan University in the first round, Small said making it to the Final Four is a definite goal, and added that the eight first-years on this year’s roster will have the experience of games under their belts by the time they would make it to the biggest stage.
“I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be able to do that,” she said. “Once we make it there, it’s two more games, why can’t we just win the whole thing?”
Next for Small will be a celebration of her milestone. With a ceremony originally scheduled for the team’s home opener against Hartwick on Nov. 22, the honoree herself requested for it to be rescheduled to their next game at the Hawk Center on Dec. 6, so her family, who has attending every game in Small’s collegiate career could all be in attendance for the special day.
A player such as Small does not come along often for coaches, sometimes every five or six years, if they are lucky, Seward said.
“With me being a head coach for 11 years now, I’ve only had a couple of them and it’s pretty special when you have that and it’s really scary to think about what it’s going to be like when she does leave,” he said. “It may be a cliché, but we’re going to just enjoy every day and really have fun being around that kind of player because they don’t come along very often.”
Teammate Talk
“Kit lets her passion for basketball drive us to success. She is a consistent hard worker and is not okay with the little mistakes she makes nor her teammates. She is the perfect person to get things done during crunch time.”
-Hawks fourth-year co-captain Courtney Irby
