Katie Hamilton: A Super Senior

The following feature was written by Davidson Assistant SID Lauren Biggers. The original story can be found here.

Senior Katie Hamilton’s college career hasn’t played out quite as she expected.

A late signee with the Wildcats, Hamilton was uncertain she even wanted to play basketball coming out of high school. At Davidson, though, she found the perfect mix of academics and athletics for which she had searched, which translated to immediate success on the court. Her first season, she led the team in scoring (11.9 ppg), 3-pointers made (45) and steals (35) and became the first Davidson player to earn Southern Conference Freshman of the Year honors.

After a sophomore campaign where she was again an All-SoCon selection after leading the team in scoring and ranking second in the league with an average of 15.8 points per game, Hamilton disappointingly missed all of the 2005-06 season after tearing her ACL in the offseason.

The following fall, her rollercoaster ride continued, and she returned to the starting lineup to help the Wildcats to the most successful campaign in school history. The 2006-07 team won a school-record 23 games and earned the program’s first postseason berth, a trip to the Women’s NIT, and individually, the two-time All-SoCon guard became just the 10th 1,000-point scorer in program history.

With enough credits in hand to graduate, Hamilton decided to play out her final year of eligibility for the Wildcats and get a dual-major. A five-year player is a pretty common thing on athletic rosters across the country, but more rare at Davidson, where there are no graduate programs to make such a stay-over more logical. Hamilton, though, didn’t think she was quite done with basketball.

“In terms of what made me want to come back, I kind of thought about it like, would I regret not coming back? Is there anything that I was rushing off to that won’t be there in another year?” she said. “And the more I thought through it, the more I thought if I don’t give it a shot, I’ll always wonder.”

Entering the 2007-08 season, Hamilton ranked sixth on the Davidson all-time scoring list with 1,134 points, while ranking in the top-10 in 11 other categories, and earned Preseason All-SoCon honors.

But the high hopes for her final season on the hardwood were quickly dashed. She was sidelined for most of the fall with a recurring knee injury that forced her to miss 14 games and still limits her playing time. It’s not exactly the finale for which she had hoped, to be sure, but don’t expect Hamilton to complain. It’s just not in her nature.

Always a major player in the team dynamics off the court, Hamilton rejoined the Wildcats on the hardwood in the SoCon matchup at the College of Charleston Jan. 2. She didn’t score, attempted just one shot and grabbed a rebound in seven minutes in the Wildcats’ 66-51 win. It was not a dynamic debut, but she was back to playing the game she loves.

“It’s an opportunity to be a part of this team for another year, which has been the most amazing part of my college experience in general,” Hamilton said. “The thought of getting to spend time with my teammates and getting to play basketball for another year. Why would I turn that down?”

Unsure of her on-court role this season, Hamilton decided to focus her energy on her off-court leadership.

“I have been really lucky in the past to have older teammates who were strong leaders on the team,” she said. “Physically, I was unsure about what my role on the team would be, so I think I had a goal of wanting to just be a consistent leader through encouraging my teammates.”

One of the best and most proven scorers in the conference, Hamilton at half speed is better than plenty at full speed, and any contribution she may offer is valuable to the Wildcats this year. Proving she can still add something, Hamilton scored 25 points in 24 minutes of action over the Wildcats’ three-game winning streak versus Appalachian State, at Greensboro and at Elon.

“I was hopeful that I’d be able to fill a more consistent and tangible role on the court, so I was hesitant to set too many athletic goals,” Hamilton said. “At same time, I was kind of like, ‘Well, we’ll see what comes, and if I do get the opportunity, I just want to play hard and enjoy it.’”

As a “super senior,” Hamilton has had the rare opportunity to play with a lot of players on a lot of different teams over her five-year career at Davidson. And with last year’s graduation of the three players she came in with – Brynn Kelly, Tia Washington and Jessica Mitchell – there were several question marks on this Wildcat squad entering this season, in addition to those surrounding her own playing time.

“This year early on, we were filling new roles,” Hamilton said. “We had people getting a lot more playing time than they had had before, and so it was an adjustment. But seeing the growth and seeing people come into their own has really allowed us to peak more towards the end.”

She points to the development of sophomore point guard Alex Thompson and junior forward Mercedes Robinson as the two most obvious examples.

“Alex is a great example,” Hamilton said. “Last year, she didn’t get a lot of playing time, but really wanted to learn. She comes back ready to fill the starting point guard role, this huge responsibility. And then Mercedes has completely dominated this season, which has been awesome. It’s been fun to see that development.”

It was also fun to be a part of the record-setting 2006-07 team along with Kelly, Washington and Mitchell, Hamilton acknowledges, but cites no particular team as more special than another.

“Every year is unique because every year has a different feel with different players and different people contributing in different ways,” she said. “Honestly, all of my years are pretty vivid.”

When the curtain does close on Hamilton’s career, the religion and sociology double-major intends to take some time off in Decatur, Ga., before heading back to graduate school to pursue a master’s in counseling.

“I’m really thankful,” Hamilton said. “I feel like I’ve gotten the opportunity to play the game I love and a lot of it. I think no one anticipates injuries or pictures those as a part of their career, but they happen. But those aren’t the defining aspects of my time here.”

No, those can be found in the record books.

Thoughts from Saturday's games against WCU

-Davidson women's basketball team is inching closer and closer to joining the elite squads of the Southern Conference. Although Western was playing without their star forward, sharpshooter Lauren Powell put forth another fantastic performance (7-12 FG). Davidson led the Catamounts throughout most of the first half and did not let WCU pull away when they went on a second half run. If Halbersleben's last second shot would have fallen, the Cats would have had five more minutes to pull out a victory and get a huge conference victory against a top team.

-Although she only played limited minutes, Katie Hamilton showed why she was such a dominant SoCon player for her first few years. She plays with great balance and patience, taking good shots when they are there and setting up her teammates perfectly. The Wildcat offense had more flow when she was in the game.

-Davidson guards Kelly Gassie and Alex Thompson were thrown off a little bit by Western's second half press. The Wildcats struggled to score throughout most of the half and a lot of that had to do with the Catamount press throwing off their offensive timing and making them race against the shot clock on every possession.

-Mercedes Robinson is easily the most consistent and talented scorer on Davidson's squad (at least until Hamilton gets back to full strength). Robinson rarely misses close shots and she has an uncanny ability to control the ball in traffic and get off an accurate shot. While I used to think that she was one of those quiet scorers who made double figures without you noticing, I now believe that she is just flat out one of the top players in this program in recent years.

-In the Belk Arena nightcap, Western Carolina laid down the plan for how to beat Davidson in conference play: don't let Davidson beat you from outside, bump the Wildcats to keep them off-rhythm, shoot a high percentage from the field. Unfortunately for Western, the referees decided to call the game close and Davidson set a new season high with 31 free throw attempts.

-Boris Meno had a really nice performance as he came off the bench for the second night in a row. Meno scored nine points and three boards, including an impressive thunder jam on a fastbreak. The forward from Paris seemed to be more intent on limiting his turnovers and converting touches into points or opportunities for his teammates. With Sander reemerging as a potent force inside (he had nine points and 10 boards tonight), Meno has the opportunity to shore up a veteran frontcourt that was exposed in non-conference play.

-For the second straight game, Max Paulhus Gosselin had a huge game full of energy and offensive production. The junior forward scored nine points including an impressive steal and slam with a foul. He had several defensive plays where his presence altered shots threw the Catamounts out of rhythm. I was really happy to see coach put MPG and Will Archambault in the game together at the two and three. As both players have regained some effectiveness with their offensive production, they become less of a confidence liability on both ends of the court.

-Stephen Curry is so good that he can suffer through the worst shooting game that he has had all season and still contribute 19 points. He and Richards combined for a problematic 10 turnovers and 3-18 shooting night from the perimeter. Yet both players got their points elsewhere integrated the rest of the team into the gameplan.

Davidson faces off against two very different Catamounts

Today will be a full day of basketball up here in Davidson, N.C. I will not be available to host a live blog or post an original story directly after either game, but I will try to get some thoughts online by Sunday.

Annette Watts' women's team will kick off the action at 2 p.m. against Western Carolina. Although the Catamounts come into this matchup with a seemingly harmless 8-5, 0-1 record, they continue to be every bit the team that fought Chattanooga to the bitter end in last year's conference title game. This year, Western Carolina has won at Clemson, at Louisville, at Oregon State and Hawaii. Their losses have come at the hands of Minnesota, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Chattanooga, and, most recently, UNC Wilmington. The Davidson men's team might know a little something about how a record doesn't really reflect the true quality of a basketball squad.

The Catamounts have been led by a high-scoring trio of upperclassmen: Monique Dawson, Brooke Johnson, and Ashley Pellom. All three players have averaged in double figures this season, while the 6-4 Johnson has averaged 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks a game. Unfortunately for the Catamounts, however, Johnson was seriously injured in last week's loss to Chattanooga. Reports are that she won't be returning this season.

The Wildcats will be bolstered by the return of Katie Hamilton who saw limited minutes in her first game back against College of Charleston last week. Although she is still not at full speed, Davidson hopes that Hamilton can give them another scoring threat on the perimeter to take the defense's attention away from Alex Thompson and Honna Housley.

The most important matchup in this game will be Mercedes Robinson and Julia Paquette against forward Kendra Eaton. Davidson completely floundered against this same group of forwards last year, and they were unable to stop the easy layups in the paint. The top six scorers for the Catamounts are all upperclassmen which means that they will be highly disciplined and difficult to rattle. The Wildcats will need to shoot a high percentage from the field and limit turnovers in order to have a chance to pull out the victory. If they can take advantage of Johnson's absence and learn to play well in the matinee timeslot, the Wildcats could be rewarded with a signature conference victory.

In the nightcap, the Davidson men's team will take on a similarly clad, yet totally different Western Carolina basketball team. While the female Catamounts have enjoyed immense success over the past few years, the men have struggled mightily in the Southern Conference and look to be going down that road again after stud sophomore Nick Aldridge was asked to leave the team.

The Catamounts have very little identity as a basketball squad right now, and that showed as they dropped an embarrassing conference loss to lowly 2-11 Furman on Thursday night. Conversely, the Wildcats are coming off a commanding victory over conference leader Georgia Southern where they had three players score in double figures, and led by a score of 21-3 at one point.

Things to watch for:

-Katie Hamilton might be back, but she won't be at full speed. Watts will be walking the fine line of giving Hamilton valuable playing time versus keeping her fifth-year star healthy. In the past, this team has fallen into bad habits of letting Hamilton do all the scoring for them. If they do not integrate her back into the offense effectively and efficiently, they might not be as successful as hoped for in conference play.

-In Davidson's last home game against High Point, star forward Julia Paquette went 2-12 from the field, missing open layups left and right. She cannot afford to lose her calm in the next two home games against WCU and Chattanooga.

-Although Will Archambault did hit a three-pointer in Davidson's blowout victory over Georgia Southern, he played the game at a slower pace than normal. I wondered if the ankle injury that he sustained at N.C. State had anything to do with it. If Paulhus-Gosselin replicates his effort from Thursday and stays out of foul trouble, Archambault might be given plenty of time to think about his ankle and his intensity.

-Although Kyle Hines and his UNC-G Spartans still lurk on the horizon, the Southern Conference does not offer much in terms of overpowering frontcourts. GSU's Louis Graham was supposed to be an all-conference player, but he could not stop Thomas Sander in the ways that the ACC teams could. Andrew Lovedale almost seemed surprised that he was able to elevate and get his hands on so many tipped balls around the basket. Ultimately, the effectiveness and consistency of Davidson's frontcourt will determine just how successful this 08 campaign will be.