Saint Vincent's Myers joins 1,000-point club

LATROBE — Kristin Myers grew up watching players such as Kelly Morda and Cassandra Cutts play at Saint Vincent College. She virtually had Saint Vincent season tickets.

Seeing those other Ford City standouts shine for the Lady Bearcats made her college choice an easy one.

“I always came up here to watch them play,” Myers said before a recent practice at the school's Robert S. Carey Center. “I've been coming to this gym for a long time. I kind of always knew this is where I wanted to play.”

Myers, a senior guard at NAIA Saint Vincent, not only followed Morda and Cutts to Saint Vincent but also joined them in the record books.

She became the 20th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone in Saint Vincent's 80-66 loss to Walsh College on Dec. 20.

Morda, a guard who played for the Lady Bearcats from 1998-2002, finished second all-time on the women's scoring list with 1,776 points.

Cutts, a forward who played from 1999-2003, had 1,276.

Myers, who leads the current team in scoring at 17.6 points per game, has 1,014 and counting.“Someone mentioned to me last year that I could probably get to 1,000,” Myers said. “But it wasn't something I was thinking a lot about. It's a nice achievement, but I want the team to do well more than personal accomplishments.”

All three players have topped 1,000 points at the high school and college levels.

“Those are the types of kids that make the program great,” said Saint Vincent coach Kristen Zawacki, who started the women's basketball program in 1983. “Not only are they great players, but they're quality people.”

Zawacki said she knew Myers had the potential to lead her team in scoring.

“Kristin is very versatile,” Zawacki said. “She could play the two- or three-guard spot for us. And she can score in a variety of ways. Even when she's in trouble, she seems to find a way to score.”

Myers said she likes the type of offense the Lady Bearcats (3-6, 1-1 American Mideast Conference) use — an up-tempo style which allows guards to slash to the basket or pull up in traffic.

“It's not like there's an offense designed just for me,” Myers said. “Our coach wants everyone to contribute. I've just been pretty comfortable with (the offense).

”“The offense flows to her,” Zawacki said.

Through their recruiting pipeline, and the success of players such as Morda, Cutts and Myers, Saint Vincent and Ford City have become intertwined in the area women's basketball arena. But Zawacki has branched out to other Alle-Kiski Valley schools in recent years.

Her other local recruits include sophomore guard Melissa McKamish (Fox Chapel), freshman guard Lindsay Kuruc (Kiski Area), junior guard-forward Jaime Vick (Kiski Area), senior center Jodie Vick (Kiski Area) and freshman forward Lauren Reilly (Apollo-Ridge).

Jodie Vick and Reilly are also starters. Reilly leads the team in rebounding. Myers and the Vick sisters are team tri-captains.

Morda, now an assistant coach at Ford City, was the A-K Valley's all-time leading scorer with 2,028 points until her cousin, Ford City guard Lizzie Suwala, shattered that mark last year.

Suwala is now at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She is seeing playing time as a freshman.

“We really tried to get her to come here,” Myers said. “That would have been nice.”Even without Suwala, Ford City pride is thriving at Saint Vincent.