On Thursday, McAuley senior Kennedy DeRuy experienced a moment she will never forget, eclipsing the 1000-point scoring mark for her career during the third quarter of the Warriors’ win over Pierce City.
McAuley Catholic celebrated the accomplishment on Friday after her first basket in the Warriors’ win against Northeast Vernon County.
“I have been with McAuley Catholic since the second grade, and I have always looked up to the basketball team,” DeRuy said after the win over the Eagles on Thursday. “It has always been a dream of mine to get into that (1000-point scoring) club. I was so excited, obviously, because a lot of hard work went into it. I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with any other team than my team.”
“Kennedy has worked harder than any person I know to get to this point,” McAuley coach Mike Howard said. “Her freshman year, she came off the bench and averaged maybe three points a game. These last three years, she has really put in the work and the effort to get better and to improve. I couldn’t think of a better person for this to happen to. I view her as my own daughter and she has just been such a blessing for me to have on this team.”
DeRuy, who didn’t see extensive varsity minutes until her sophomore season with the Warriors, put in countless hours of work on the court in preparation to take on a larger role. To say her hard work has paid off would be an understatement.
“I was intimidated going into my freshman year,” DeRuy said. “We had a lot of good players on varsity, so I had to find my role. … The biggest thing was that I needed to get comfortable with who I was and how I played. Most of all, I had to be confident in what I could do. With years of preparation and Coach Howard by my side, putting in the work was worth it.”
Heading into the contest, DeRuy was eight points shy of 1000. Of course, when a career milestone approaches, it’s always nice for it to happen during the flow of the game. That wasn’t the case for DeRuy, who had a pair of baskets to bookend the Warriors’ scoring in the second quarter before adding a score off the drive with a minute to play in the third period. She had plenty of time to think about her chance at history as she stepped up to the free-throw line with 31.6 seconds left in the third quarter, sitting at 998 points. With God in her heart, she was perfect from the stripe, knocking down both charities to clinch history.
“I prayed to God before I shot those free throws,” DeRuy said with a smile and a laugh. “I just asked Him (to help) because this is what I have been working for. If it was my time, it was my time and obviously it was. I thank my teammates, my coach and my parents because none of this would have been popular without him.”
