By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Even if Kaitlyn Herbert had never hit a personal milestone, her place would forever be remembered in the Robbinsville High School girls basketball program.
The senior guard has been a trailblazer for the Ravens, one who started to make a name for herself as a freshman starter four years ago.
”I’m lucky,” said Ravens head coach Chris Hoffman. “I came in about same time as Kaitlyn. This was a tall, shy, skinny kid who would trip over her feet. Now she’s the first girls basketball player from Robbinsville to go play college basketball.”
Herbert added to her list of records she has shared in when she became the first basketball player in RHS history to score 1,000 points in her career. Herbert’s 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left put her over the milestone in a 55-28 win over Raritan on Saturday in the Shore Cancer Challenge.
”It’s really exciting,” said Herbert, who was presented with the game ball, a large photo of herself and a banner signed by the team. “I’ve been working for it for a while. It’s something I never thought I’d be able to do. And the best part was we got a win.”
Herbert’s primary focus has always been on the team’s success not her own, though they have gone hand in hand. When she came in as a freshman, her shooting helped the Ravens win a program-record 10 games. With Saturday’s non-conference win in a fundraiser to benefit cancer patients, Robbinsville improved to 10-8. It’s their fourth win in their last five games.
”We’re tied with the school record for wins,” Herbert said. “I think there’s still a lot we can do, especially still beating the school record for wins. It’s been one of our main focuses since the start of the season.”
Robbinsville went through some growing pains the last two years with a lot of inexperience surrounding Herbert, but they have steadily improved — from three wins in her sophomore year to seven wins last year to 10 and counting. The Ravens have a challenging week ahead with Allentown scheduled for Tuesday, Trenton tonight and Ewing on Friday, but they feel better equipped for these tests.
”We’re definitely a new and improved team from the past two years,” Herbert said. “The games will be close and hopefully we can come out with a win.
”I think we’re really playing better as a team this year, rather than last year. We’re passing the ball around better. We have some freshmen that have contributed to the team. A few of us have played AAU this year which has helped us improve not only individually but as a team.”
Courtney Allen led the Ravens with 19 points in the win over Raritan. Herbert finished with 17 points. Fiona Aromondo and Sara Motusesky had five points apiece, Megan Lekulitch had four points, Courtney Karagjozi had three points and Theresa Demkovitz had a field goal.
”If you take away the Notre Dame and Allentown game, we’re leading or tied in the fourth quarter of 16 of our 18 games,” Hoffman said. “It’s probably a bigger improvement than I would have thought at the beginning of the season. We’ve already tied the record for the most wins in the season.
”We wanted high seed in Mercer County Tournament. We wanted to make states. We wanted to break the school record. We’re tied and we still have eight games left. We wanted to beat expectations.”
Standards have been rising in each of the past three seasons, and it is rewarding for Herbert to see them come to fruition.
”I think it takes a lot of pressure off to have more than one, two or three players,” she said. “We have a strong bench. Coach Hoffman is confident enough to put anyone in he needs to. Instead of them having to do everything, there’s someone else that can do stuff.”
Herbert has filled her role as a top scorer and team leader for the Ravens. And her selfless attitude has helped the team’s culture.
”She would tell you, I’d rather have zero points and be on a winning team than 1,000 points on a losing team,” Hoffman said. “That’s a reflection on her parents. She’s so respectful of her teachers, her coaches, her peers. No matter if the situation is good or bad, she gets it. She knows how to react in basketball and life.”
Herbert’s improvements have helped her reach 1,000 points in the face of plenty of attention from other teams. She has seen opponents pulling out every stop to limit her scoring.
”They’re playing defense on me pretty well, face guarding me, box and one,” Herbert said. “I have a lot of confidence in my teammates to get done what we need to get done.”
If it were not for her teammates’ improvements to take some pressure off her, she wouldn’t have reached the mark, and if she hadn’t improved her own game, she wouldn’t have gotten there either.
”When she was a freshman, because we did have some big kids, Kate was our go-to shooter,” Hoffman said. “In the middle years, she had to handle the ball and be almost point guard at 5-10. This year, she’s always been that 3-point shooter and now she’s developed an inside game. Teams know about her and they’re taking away that 3-point shot. They’re double-teaming her. She’s posting people up. She’s more prepared for the college game. She can do a little of everything.”
Herbert never considered the milestone seriously until last year.
”Coach Hofmann has always said it since freshman year,” Herbert said. “I didn’t always believe him. The years went on, and then last year, I realized, this is actually possible.”
Herbert admitted she was more nervous than usual heading into the game because she’d received enough attention to know how close to the mark she stood. It did seem appropriate that Herbert would score her 1,000th point on a 3-point shot. The play wasn’t designed specifically for that shot, but she ended up open in a comfortable spot to make it. It was her only 3-pointer of the game for a player that is certainly Robbinsville’s career leader in 3s.
”I think it was meant to be,” Herbert said. “I like shooting 3s. I always have. My freshman year, I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t drive to the basket. I expanded my game.”
It has her better prepared for her biggest goal that motivated her coming into high school.
”Four years ago, my freshman year, it has always been a goal for me to play college basketball,” she said. “Looking back at it, I wasn’t the player I am today.
”I played every position all four years,” she added. “I’m up for whatever we need to be successful, whatever Coach Hoffman needs me to do.”
Her time at Robbinsville has helped to shape her into a more complete player. Each year has helped her evolve and develop more skill, and each year has seen the team grow to now its most successful season. She has also played AAU for the AUF Lady Hawks the last two years to complement her time at Robbinsville.
”Freshman year, we were led by three amazing seniors,” Herbert said. “Then sophomore and junior year, it went a little rough, but Coach Hoffman has always been there and been supportive of me and the team. And he knew the team would eventually be where we need to be, and I think that’s this year.
”We had some key freshmen coming in and only graduated one senior last year. We all knew how we all played.”
Herbert is one of three seniors who will be honored on Senior Night when the Ravens host Lawrence in two weeks. The Ravens are also graduating Melissa Ailey and Jasmine Paige, and Hoffman expects an emotional night. He was pleased to see a huge crowd for the Shore Cancer Challenge game.
”We were raising money for leukemia and childhood cancers,” Hoffman said. “The boys team was there. The football team was there. It’s the first time in 70 games I coached there that they’ve had that. They deserve that. Now they’re getting that.”
The night was made more special when the fans could share in Herbert’s special moment and another win for the Ravens. With the milestone behind her, Herbert is focused on helping Robbinsville share more big wins to close the year.
”I’m excited for the Mercer County Tournament,” Herbert said. “I’m pretty sure we have a home game. It’s the first time in the school’s history we have a girls home game. We have an opportunity to win first round. I don’t know if we’ve done that before.”
