St. Marys (Pa.) guard Kayla Hoohuli, a 5-foot-10 senior, is easily one of the best girls basketball players in Pennsylvania this season.
And Tuesday night she added to her legacy when she scored 41 points, including her team's first 27, to reach the 2,000-point mark in her career, becoming just the fourth player in PIAA District 9 history to reach 2,000 career points with 2,015.
St. Marys High's Kayla Hoohuli.
File photo by Eric Elliott
"It's a great accomplishment," Hoohuli said. "But I wouldn't have been able to do it without my teammates. They are the ones who drive me to get to where I am. They are the ones who keep me going."
Hoohuli, who is believed to be the 147th player in Pennsylvania history (according to PAHoops.org) to score 2,000 career points, said she was nervous before the game. But that didn't show when she ran off the first 27 points for the Lady Dutch and went over the 2,000-point mark with 7:58 left in the first half.
"It kind of just happened that way," Hoohuli said of her scoring the 27 straight points for St. Marys. "I was very nervous at the start, but as the game went on I felt more comfortable and my shots were falling and it just kept me going."
Hoohuli credits her determination and hard work for her success.
"I'm a very determined player," Hoohuli said. "I want to be perfect, but no one is perfect. But I'm a very hard working player who works as hard as I can so I can be the best that I can."
Hoohuli, who was a first-team All-state Class AAA performer last year after averaging a state-leading 30.3 points per game to go with 8.8 rebounds, 7.3 steals and 4.4 assists per game (she also added 88 3-pointers and 85 blocked shots), committed to Canisius, an NCAA Division I school in Buffalo, before the season started. Her final decision came down to Canisius and Kent State.
"I wanted to get it out of the way before the season started," Hoohuli said. "I love the coaching staff at Canisius. I knew (assistant) coach (Jacey) Brooks ever since I first started being recruited and she was at St. Bonaventure and that was the first school I visited. And I really like the head coach (Terry Zeh). I like his intensity and his work ethic. I can't wait to play for the Lady Griffins."
Before Hoohuli steps onto campus at Canisius, she has some goals at St. Marys she would like to accomplish first.
"I would really like us to go far into the state playoffs, maybe even the state championship game," Hoohuli said. "We have a really good team with more experience than last year."
Going to the state championship would be quite an accomplishment for St. Marys. Only six District 9 girls teams have ever advanced to the PIAA championship game in basketball, and none since Karns City won the district's lone title in Class AA in 2000. Only one District 9 Class AAA team, St. Marys is Class AAA, has made the title game and that was Bradford in 1976.
But Hoohuli is the type of player who could carry her team deep into the state postseason. Last year, she single-handily lifted the Lady Dutch to a 64-55 win over Hampton in the PIAA playoffs by scoring a District 9-record 52 points.
"That is probably my best memory so far," Hoohuli said. "It wasn't just my best game, but it was doing it with Amanda Simbeck, our lone senior. We kept our teammates going, and that win has carried over to help us get to where we are this year."
This season, Hoohuli is the leader of a team that is still young but includes her younger sister Kiana Hoohuli, a freshman.
"I love her to death," Kiana Hoohuli said. "She is a hard worker, and we work well together. I'm glad I get to play with her my senior year. I'm proud of what she does. She helps me on and off the court, and not just with basketball. We have a close bond."
St. Marys is 2-0 on the young season.
