O-R Athlete of the Week: Kendra Tharp, West Greene
Name: Kendra Tharp
Grade: Senior
School: West Greene
Sport: Basketball
Tharp’s week: Going into Friday’s game against Avella, Tharp knew how many points she needed to get to 1,000, but the prospects of achieving it were grim, because of foul trouble.
That put Tharp on the bench for a long period with only four points scored, but she re-entered the game in the second half and went on a tear. She ended up getting the 20 points she needed for the milestone.
When I was sitting on the bench, I thought I wasn’t going to get it in that game and that was a bit of an upsetting feeling,” Tharp said. “But I came back in the second half and ended up scoring 16 points. It was the best feeling I think you can have. My teammates were really helpful distributing me the ball when I started to get close.”
Tharp was one of four local basketball players to achieve 1,000 points last week. South Fayette’s Juliette Leroux, Beth-Center’s Jason Zelle and Bentworth’s Ben Hays were the others.
She got her 1,000th point on a basket on a drive to the hoop at the halfway point of the fourth quarter.
The celebration after included a dinner with family. She said the team was planning to have a cookie cake for her Wednesday.
Aiming for another 1,000: With 1,000 points in the books, the next milestone Tharp wants to achieve is 1,000 rebounds. West Greene coach Ben Brudnock said Tharp is approximately 130 rebounds away from doing so. If she gets to 1,000 rebounds she’ll be the first girls basketball player in West Greene history to have 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
“I need about 14 rebounds a game to hit on our Senior Night (Feb. 6) and that’s ultimately my goal,” Tharp said. “I have nine games until then.”
Tharp is only 5-6, but uses tenacity to win battles on the boards.
“In my freshman year, I got to start varsity because I was a hustle player and that’s just something I do every game,” Tharp said. “That’s how I end up with a bunch of rebounds. I’m always going for the ball.”
Multi-sport athlete: Aside from basketball, Tharp is also on the volleyball and softball teams and is a cheerleader. She’s thankful to be at West Greene where she can take advantage of opportunities to play as many sports as possible.
“It’s very encouraged to play as many sports as you want, because we are such a small school,” Tharp said. “If all the girls in our school stuck to one sport I’m not sure we’d have enough to cover most of the sports. We have small rosters as it is and most of the girls here are two or three sport athletes.”
Field trip: Tharp recently completed a trip to Harrisburg for the Pennsylvania Farm Show where she received a Keystone degree through Future Farmers of America.
She’s been involved with FFA since middle school and raised animals when she was younger.
“It’s the highest degree of FFA that the state has to offer,” Tharp said. “You get it based on your supervised agriculture experience. You either put in hours toward whatever project you want to do or you do what I did, which was put in all my hours toward working at a farm.”
Compiled by Jerin Steele