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Kitts' Fiery Approach, Shooting Has Stuart Hoops in State Semis
By Bill Alden
It didn't take long last winter for Kathryn Kitts to show her teammates on the Stuart Country Day basketball team that she possessed a special fire for the game.
Breaking her right wrist in the second game of the season, Kitts played most of her freshman season with a cast on her right hand.
Kitts valiantly fought through the injury, emerging as a reliable threat from the outside despite having her energy sapped by dealing with the pain in her arm.
With her wrist fully healed coming into this season, Kitts has been able to focus her intensity on giving her all for the Tartans.
Last Friday, with Kitts flying all over the court, scoring 12 points and spearheading the team's stifling press, Stuart waltzed to a 44-20 win over Ranney School in the opening round of the state Prep B tournament.
Kitts' take-no-prisoners approach to the game was evident in her assessment of the Tartans' effort.
"It's tournament time, it's time to get tough," said Kitts in reflecting on a game which saw Stuart jump out to a 17-0 lead. "We came together today."
The willowy Kitts acknowledged that she looks to bring an edge to the team. "I try to have intensity and a big personality," said Kitts, who is scoring more than nine points a game for the 7-7 Tartans who are the No. 4 seed in the state tournament. "I try to get everybody pumped up, we work better that way."
Stuart head coach Tony Bowman agrees Kitts' fiery nature has helped the team work better. "She's a tough kid," said Bowman, who is in his first year at the helm of the Stuart program. "She's got the most fire on the team, she's always pumped up. Defensively, when we run the press, she's in the middle. She plays what I call my safety role. She sees everything, she reads the game well and plays hard."
Bowman thought his team made progress in terms of its overall intensity in routing Ranney.
"Today was a great step," said Bowman, who got 16 points from sharpshooting freshman Caitlin Spratt.
"We're playing harder. This is the time where you find out what you've got-who's going to deliver and who's not going to deliver."
Bowman believes his team is getting on the same page as it faces the formidable challenge of taking on top-seeded Rutgers Prep in the state semis on February 18.
"They know what I want and now they're doing it," said the animated Bowman with a broad grin. "It's starting to come together. Now we're more of a team, before I had a bunch of individuals trying to run my plays."
Kitts, for her part, believes the team, which includes seven freshmen, is getting in sync. "We've got some people really coming up," asserted Kitts.
"The freshmen are just outstanding, they're playing great basketball, it's really nice to see. I think the team has helped me get a few more shots. The ball is being distributed really well this year. All of my teammates have come a long way."
Kitts and her teammates are looking forward to showing Rutgers Prep how far they've come from the regular season meeting between the clubs in which the Tartans dropped a 50-22 decision to the Knights after trailing just 22-16 at halftime.
"Rutgers Prep is a very good team, very well-respected," said Kitts, who also stars in tennis, having played at No. 1 singles for the Stuart tennis team during the first two seasons of her high school career.
"We've had a couple of more games together. We were getting used to each other when we played them before, now we're finally there. If we just stay with them and run our offense, play or defense, we have a good chance."
Particularly if they can play with same fire that Kitts brings to the court.
