Caroline Reedy of Berks Catholic named MikeDragoSports.com Player of the Year
Caroline Reedy was the ultimate team player for Berks Catholic. She passed up far more shots than she ever took. She was more concerned with finding open teammates, grabbing rebounds, fulfilling her defensive assignment — and winning.
She helped the Saints do plenty of that over four seasons; they won 72 times, including the Berks championship her junior season.
Not that personal achievements weren’t important, too. As she looks back at her four seasons with the Saints a day that will stand out was the county playoff opener against Wyomissing this season when she reached a career scoring milestone.
“I was really happy with my 1,000 points,” she said. “Coming in as a freshman, that was a huge goal for me.”
She checked that off the list in early February. Now, nearly three weeks after her season ended, Reedy continues to collect mementos. Sunday she played in the Berks Senior All-Star Game and received the Catherine Rhodes trophy as the top senior girls basketball player in Berks County.
Monday she was named the MikeDragoSports.com Berks girls basketball Player of the Year, an award sponsored by Utilities Employees Credit Union.
Reed was twice named UECU Player of the Week during the season and earned more Player of the Week votes throughout the season than any other player.
Finalists for the award were: Addison Benner, Brandywine Heights; Alexis Hess, Fleetwood; Shakyla Mayo, Gov. Mifflin; Grace Reedy, Exeter; Avery Potteiger, Brandywine Heights; and Kya Washington, Reading High. Benner and Mayo were the only other two-time weekly award winners.
Players were nominated each week by their coaches, or by MikeDragoSports.com.
“We are proud to partner with Mike Drago Sports to celebrate the accomplishments of talented student-athletes,” said Greg Cosgrove, Marketing Manager of Utilities Employees Credit Union. “It is an honor to be part of awarding Caroline with the Berks County Player of the Year award. We are excited to see where Caroline is headed in the future.”
Reedy isn’t sure if she’ll play basketball in college. She’s still finalizing her college choice. She’s a 4.0 student and academics will be her first priority when selecting a school. She may consider walking onto the team.
The 5-8 senior averaged a team-leading 13.5 points and was a two-time All-Berks pick. She helped the Saints finish 21-7, win the Berks League Division I title, reach the District 3 Class 4A championship game and qualify for the PIAA Tournament.
She led her team in rebounding for the third straight season and in scoring for the second time in three years. The hallmark of her career has been consistency — she averaged 10.5 points as a sophomore and 11.1 as a junior. Before this season, she only had two games with 20 points or more; she had four as a senior.
Reedy made it a goal early in her career at Berks Catholic to reach 1,000 points. Every time she walked through Lloyd Wolf Gymnasium she noticed the banners that hang on the walls, listing past 1,000-point scorers who have played at Berks Catholic. She wanted to join them.
She got there in a big way, scoring a career-high 26 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in Berks Catholic’s 52-36 win over Wyomissing in a BCIAA basketball quarterfinal.
“I don’t think there’s any player in the league who does more (for her team),” said Saints coach Bob Birmingham after that game. “I don’t care who you’re talking about. All she wants to do is win.”
The Saints were stopped from getting back-to-back league championships when Mayo scored on a buzzer-beater in the semifinals. Other than that Reedy looks back at her final season with no regrets.
“That was the only downside of the season,” she said of the loss to Mifflin, “because we got to the district championship, we got into states. I think it was a pretty good season.”
