The date was Feb. 7, and the site was the Robbinsville High School gymnasium.
As one of seven games unfolded for the benefit of Lymphoma and Leukemia research, Kaitlyn Herbert took a pass on the left wing and calmly swished a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left in the first half. The shot gave the Robbinsville girls’ basketball team a 26-14 lead over Raritan.
The Ravens’ bench emptied and mobbed Herbert, and the crowd started changing her name over and over.
It seemed like a pretty big fuss for one little basket in a blowout game, until you understood the significance of that 3-pointer. It made Herbert the first Robbinsville basketball player to ever score 1,000 points in a career.
But in typical Herbert fashion, she didn’t know about it and was more worried about the task at hand.
“My first reaction was to get back on defense, but I was met in the middle of the court by all my teammates, which is when I realized I hit my 1,000th,” she said. “It was very exciting, and I really didn’t remember the cheering and chanting until I saw the video. It was very cool that so many people came out to support our team that night.”
And to think she got cut from the Pond Road Middle School team. Not once, but twice. Nonetheless, that wasn’t going to stop her from becoming something special.
For Ravens coach Chris Hoffman, Herbert was the perfect person to become the first Raven to hit the coveted milestone. Not just because of her skills, but also because of the person she is and what she means to RHS.
“Basketball-wise, there may be another Kate Herbert out there in Robbinsville, who may break all of her records five or 10 years down the road,” Hoffman said. “But as an overall student athlete, who gets life and gets how you are supposed to act and how your are supposed to represent your school, your community and your family, there will never be another Kaitlyn Herbert in that sense. I was truly blessed to be part of her career and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
That’s a far cry from what Hoffman saw four years ago, which also was his first season as Ravens coach.
“When Kaitlyn came in as a freshman, I saw this tall, shy kid who would trip over her own feet sometimes,” he said. “Kate could only shoot from the outside. She couldn’t get to the basket, she couldn’t rebound and she couldn’t defend.”
And yet, she had something. After Herbert hit four straight 3-pointers in her second game with the Ravens’ freshman team, Alison Guido, the senior point guard that year, told Hoffman, “I don’t know who that is, but we need that girl with us.”
Herbert got the call to varsity and has been a starter ever since.
It should not be surprising how she advanced, considering her work ethic and heritage. Herbert’s mom, Carolyn Herbert, played for Montclair State, went on to play professionally in Denmark and, according to Hoffman, “is a self-proclaimed rebounding machine.”
Herbert’s parents, both big basketball fans, got their daughter started playing in Kindergarten.
“When I got to middle school I tried out for the basketball team in sixth grade and was cut,” Herbert said. “My parents gave me the option to either sit around and be upset about it or play for an AAU team in Pennsylvania.”
Thus, twice a week her parents would endure rush hour traffic to take Herbert to practice and then drive her to out-of-state tournaments each weekend.
“Kate’s parents have made the necessary sacrifices to help her improve,” Hoffman said. “They have driven her all over the East Coast. They truly care about their daughter’s future and as a dad of two daughters myself, I have learned so much from them and will take a lot of what they have taught me and emulate it as I raise my two kids.”
And Herbert did not let mom and dad’s efforts go to waste. She fell in love with basketball during that initial AAU season but still had one more disappointment to deal with. Herbert went out for Pond Road in seventh grade and again got cut.
“That only motivated me to work harder,” she said. “AAU was the best thing I’ve done to help me get to where I am today.”
Herbert’s stops along the way included the East Windsor PAL and Robbinsville Basketball Association for rec ball, along with St. Gregory’s CYO team. In AAU, she has played for the Lower Bucks Lightning, Jersey Fusion Elite, bRock and, most recently with the AUF Lady Hawks.
As for school ball, Herbert finally made the Pond Road team in eighth grade and then showed up at Robbinsville along with Hoffman. That first season, the Ravens had three experienced seniors in Guido, Taylor Mayweather and Amanda Orlak that led to a winning campaign. They also helped her work on her game.
“The three of them, along with coach Hoffman, broke me out of my comfort zone from a timid player to more aggressive,” she said.
During the following summer, Hoffman worked on Herbert’s aforementioned weaknesses and had to add something new to the mix. Because the Ravens did not have a point guard, Herbert needed to become a ball handler along with fellow sophomore Courtney Allen. Between that, and the fact Robbinsville graduated three key players, it made for a difficult year.
“It was tough,” Herbert said. “I was challenged to play roles that I was uncomfortable with. I played point guard at times, which is not one of my strengths, but the experience helped me become a more all-around player.”
Herbert finally blossomed as a junior, scoring 337 points, making 40 three-pointers and grabbing “a ton of rebounds,” according to Hoffman. Over the years, the coach talked to Herbert about her chances of scoring 1,000 points.
“I tried not to focus on that since winning is more important to me,” she said. “My teammates have been very supportive, and I could not have done this without them.”
She’s not just providing lip service when she says winning is more important.
“One of the best quotes I heard Kate say,” noted Hoffman, “is when someone asked her if her 1,000th point was her greatest basketball memory and her answer was ‘No, my greatest high school basketball memory was my freshman year when we won the Over the River Christmas Tournament, and it was the first time Robbinsville won a Christmas tournament in school history.’ When I hear her say things like that it makes me so proud. Yeah, basketball is important but to see her mature as a person over these past four years and turn out the way she has is truly amazing.”
She has matured as a player as well, having gone from just an outside shooter to someone who can block shots and grab rebounds while improving on defense and taking higher percentage shots. Her arsenal landed Herbert a spot at Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., where she plans on majoring in international business with a minor in Italian. Basketball, of course, is also on the agenda.
“It has always been a goal of mine to play college basketball, and I couldn’t have done it without the support from my amazing coaches over the years, my parents, family and teammates,” she said.
