When Kate Botti was playing for Norwin’s girls basketball team, she wasn’t called upon to score a lot of points. The Knights had plenty of that with the likes of, among others, Alyssa Laukus, Brianna Zajicek, Kendall Berger, Lauren Palangio, Ava Kobus, Jayla Wehner and Olivia Gribble.
All of those ladies went on to play in college.
But when Botti arrived at Bethany to begin her own college career, coach Mikayla Lopez asked Botti to change her mentality and look to score a bit more. Last season, as a freshman, Botti started all 27 games for the Bison and averaged a modest 5.1 points.
“In her freshman year, you could tell there was still a little bit of a lack of that confidence,” said Lopez, 27 and in her third year as Bethany’s coach. “I think once she saw the work she put in over the summer translate … she felt more comfortable this year looking to create for herself.”
Entering the Bison’s holiday break, Botti had appeared in seven of their nine games, starting six, and was averaging 10.6 points. Her highlight was a 25-point effort in Bethany’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference-opening victory over Waynesburg. She also had 10 rebounds, four assists and four blocks as the Bison put up 99 points.
That helped her to earn PAC Offensive Player of the Week for the first time. And it was her career high in points. That includes high school.
“I didn’t realize until I was shooting foul shots in the fourth quarter that I had 21 points at the time,” said Botti, a 6-foot forward.
She preceded the Waynesburg performance with a 15-point, eight-rebound effort against La Roche. She leads the team and ranks third in the PAC in rebounding at 9.3 per game.
Perhaps most importantly, her production has helped Bethany win four of its first six PAC games and put the Bison squarely in the conversation for the conference title.
Though Botti still is working to improve her offense, she has shown the ability to score from anywhere on the floor, including stepping out behind the 3-point line. She is shooting 39.1% from beyond the arc.
“She’s definitely getting there,” Lopez said regarding Botti’s offense. “She’s got a good midrange stop-and-pop shot, and when she has that height advantage in the post, she can finish.
“And I also think her teammates really kind of helped encourage her and helped her feel comfortable. Now she knows they trust her to go and get a bucket and look to create for herself.”
Added Botti: “They showed me last year that they had confidence in me from the jump, and that’s carried over. There were times when I wouldn’t shoot it, and … they would all come up to me, and they’re like, ‘Kate, shoot it. You’re a good shooter.’ They’re definitely very encouraging and motivating.”
Botti’s offense still might be a work in progress, but on the other side of the ball, her ability never has been in question. With her height, Botti, of course, can guard players in the post, but Lopez has utilized Botti’s quickness to match her up against opposing guards.
Guarding positions one through five is something that started back at Norwin with coach Brian Brozeski. Early in her varsity career, Botti was called upon to guard players down low. But during her junior year, she said, Brozeski started assigning her the opposing team’s best player regardless of her position.
“When he first started doing it, I was questioning him because I never guarded guards before,” Botti said. “And then I did a good job at it, and he was like, ‘See? I know what I am doing. I put you in this position because I know you can do it.’ ”
Botti credits her defensive versatility to training she received at First Step Quickness in Trafford. That helped with her explosiveness and enabled her to stay in front of smaller, shiftier players.
Being able to get her feet into advantageous positions also helped with what Botti said might be her favorite part of basketball: taking charges. Lopez said Botti probably leads the team in taking charges, though Botti conceded that newcomer Kaedlee Potter, a transfer from NAIA school University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky, is giving her a run for her money this season.
“It doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but I do love taking a charge,” Botti said.
Botti has made great strides, to be sure, but with two-plus years of college basketball ahead of her, she figures to continue on an upward trajectory. As a sophomore, she remains the youngest player in a starting lineup that includes a grad student, two seniors and a junior.
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She confessed she still might be a pass-first player but is learning to be more “selfish” when it comes to offense.
Meanwhile, Botti is optimistic Bethany can be a factor in the PAC title race. The Bison were picked to finish fourth in the conference preseason poll after reaching the semifinal last season, and with their solid start, the rest of the PAC has been put on notice.
“I definitely think we can be a contender this year,” she said. “We’re just breaking the surface of the potential we have. Once we get a very fluid offense and keep building that trust and court chemistry, I think … there’s definitely a lot of good teams in the PAC, but I think we’re up there with them.”