Moniteau star Kelly’s all-around performance leads to Player of Year honor
CHERRY TWP — Moniteau senior Catherine Kelly worked on her ability to drive to the basket all summer, preparing for her final girls basketball season with the Warriors.
“I knew I had to get physically stronger to absorb all of the contact in doing that,” she said of going to the hoop. “But I felt like I needed to add that element to my game.”
Little did she know, she’d have to add even more.
Season-ending injuries to top rebounders Davina Pry and Kendall Sankey forced Kelly and her teammates to become more gritty around the basket. They did so, with Kelly leading the way.
Along with breaking the Moniteau career girls basketball scoring record that stood for 18 years, such efforts have earned Kelly recognition as the Butler Eagle Girls Basketball Player of the Year. The honor is determined by the Eagle sports staff.
Kelly edged North Catholic senior Alayna Rocco for the honor.
“Catherine worked so hard in the offseason,” Moniteau coach Dee Arblaster said. “She did get stronger and that came in handy, because we needed her rebounding.
“Davina tore her ACL before the season started and we lost Kendall for the second half of the year. Catherine is a laid-back person who led by example. Her work ethic rubbed off on the other players.”
Kelly averaged 19.4 points per game this season, along with 5.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. She ended her Moniteau career with 1,452 points, five more than 2006 Warrior graduate Alyssa Deal accumulated in her career.
“I knew I had a shot at that record, but I wanted us to win, first and foremost,” Kelly said. “We all had to do a little more after losing those players to injury. That and the record became a delicate balance for me.
“The team had to come first.”
Moniteau finished 18-7 this season, District 9 runner-up, and lost at the buzzer in the first round of the PIAA tournament.
“We needed Catherine to score a lot for us to have a chance to win that game,” Arblaster said. “She came through offensively despite opposing defenses always paying plenty of attention to her, trying to take her out of our offense.
“Catherine’s ability to drive to the basket really helped her this year. She wasn’t settling for jump shots. She drove past people.’
Kelly started every game for Moniteau her freshman year. Aslyn Pry, who went on to a stellar career at Butler County Community College, was a senior at Moniteau when she was a freshman.
Kelly remembers being mentored by Pry.
“Aslyn was a great player and did so much for me,” Kelly said. “She encouraged me to take more shots because that would lessen the pressure on her, make the defense more honest.
“This year, it was important to me to help our younger players that same way.”
Kelly is headed to Thiel College to major in Exercise Science, Pre-Physical Therapy. She will be playing basketball for the Tomcats as well.
“They’re in the process of rebuilding the program there and all of the freshmen from this year got to play,” she said. “I’m confident I’ll get on the court as a freshman as well.”
And while she’s proud of holding the Moniteau scoring record, she’s hopeful another girl comes along and breaks it.
“Hopefully, I served as an example of what hard work can do,” Kelly said. “You can achieve a lot ... You just have to get after it. I’m hoping I inspired a lot of the younger players to keep working hard.”
