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West Genesee junior guard Katie Kolinski beat Cicero-North Syracuse High School sophomore forward Breanna Stewart to the baseline by three steps, eyes set on an easy layup. Thinking she had an open layup, Kolinski met Stewart in the lane.

Stewart towered over Kolinski and swatted her shot to the other side of C-NS’s court, just one of her 11 blocks on the night. The Northstars cruised to victory over the Wildcats, winning 74-32 with Stewart recording 21 points and 11 rebounds.

By the end of her senior season, Stewart was the Naismith Prep Player of the Year, Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American. From 2008 to 2012, she finished as the Northstars’ all-time leading scorer with 2,367 points, 1,389 rebounds and 634 blocks.

Stewart’s sheer dominance led Cicero-North to two state championships in her junior and senior years. Besides her commanding presence during state championship tournaments, Stewart — who now plays for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm — excelled at the Jam Fest slam dunk contest and in other tournaments such as the Nike Tournament of Champions. 

Even before high school, Stewart, who was not available for an interview, was still succeeding on the court. She made the C-NS freshman team when she was in seventh grade, and the summer before eighth grade, Stewart was invited by C-NS varsity head coach Eric Smith to join the Northstars’ varsity team for a tournament. Stewart excelled, and Smith promoted her to varsity as an eighth-grader.

While she played basketball at North Syracuse Junior High School, Stewart also played volleyball under coach Michael Lucia. Despite her impressive volleyball skills — perfectly timing block and kill shots — Stewart was destined to play basketball. During volleyball practice, she would shoot and make 3-pointers with a volleyball. After a couple of years, she shifted her commitment to solely basketball.

Breanna Stewart in a Rasheed Wallace North Carolina jersey at nine years old. Even at a young age, Stewart towered over other children. Courtesy of Brian Stewart

When she was younger, Stewart asked her father, Brian Stewart, how to improve her basketball skills. Brian created a dribbling routine for her, one that would make her a well-rounded player — not just a post player.

Stewart would dribble around her block four times alternating techniques — behind-the-back or through-the-legs — between laps. Stewart was not overwhelmed to play with older players because of all her practicing, Brian said.

“It was just not a big deal,” Brian said. “That being said, she was still three or four years younger than many of them.

Over time, Stewart bonded with her teammates despite the age gap between them. The team gave Stewart the nickname “Bean” because her lean, six-foot frame made her look like a beanstalk, Cicero-North upperclassman Brittney Fedele said.

While “Beany,” as Stewart was called by her teammates, was well-known within central New York and by recruiters, her presence was still not known nationally.

That changed at the 2012 McDonald’s All-American Game in Chicago. Stewart scored nine points and tallied six rebounds in the game, but that wasn’t even where Stewart made her mark. It was during the slam dunk contest, known as the Jam Fest.

With two successful dunks, she earned a perfect score and won the competition. A video of the slams was put on YouTube — which has since been viewed over 800,000 times — introducing the country to the Cicero-North star.

But success on the court was neither new nor surprising for Stewart. She gained the skills to make her successful through months of practice with local trainer Pete Moore. Stewart met Moore when she was in eighth grade, and he continued to train her all the way through her senior year at UConn.

“I always trained her to win,” Moore said.

Moore also taught her how to dunk. While the perfect dunks at the McDonald’s All-American Game shocked viewers, Moore had seen better when they were at the gym.

“People really didn’t see that what you saw on TV is what I had her doing at school. She was doing tomahawks, one-hands — I mean she was doing incredible stuff,” Moore said. “And that day I brought her father up and sat him in the gym … and he said, ‘All we need is one person to see her do that.’”

Jam Fest was only one of the many successful moments in Stewart’s high school career, as the team’s victories had it playing at the highest stages in high school basketball, including the 2011 Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix.

On the first day of the tournament, C-NS, which was ranked No. 14 by USA Today and No. 24 by ESPN, squared off against the Bolingbrook Raiders (Illinois), ranked No. 1 by USA Today and No. 6 by ESPN. Bolingbrook’s star player was Morgan Tuck, who would later become Stewart’s teammate at UConn. But Tuck wasn’t able to outplay Stewart, and the Northstars upset the Raiders 43-40.

“We went all over playing because she was so sought after to be at tournaments,” said Liz Miles, a teammate of Stewart’s on the Northstars.

Maya Goosmann | Design Editor

In her five years playing for C-NS, Stewart led the Northstars to a combined record of 94-14, as well as two state championships.

“When you have someone like Breanna Stewart on your team, even in high school you knew they had a chance to win at all, it wasn’t even a question,” Kolinski said.

Kelsey Mattice, who was a guard on the Northstars for most of Stewart’s high school career, accompanied Stewart on the All-CNY team en route to winning the 2011 girls’ basketball state title. Going into the 2011 season, the two were convinced that a championship was inevitable.

“Me and Breanna definitely put a lot on ourselves to make it happen,” Mattice said. “We constantly worked together in practice, after practice, on weekends.”

In the regional round of the 2011 tournament against Shaker High School, Stewart set the tone with a dominant 22-point performance, leading the Northstars to a 29-point win. She repeated that performance in the semifinals with 28 points against Baldwin for a 55-35 win. And to cap off the tournament, Stewart recorded 29 points in the championship game against Gates Chili, where the Northstars won 75-54.

Mattice, a year older than Stewart, graduated before Stewart’s senior year. Still, Stewart set records without her main passer, averaging 26 points and 13 rebounds per game.

The next year, in 2012, the Northstars went 22-3 heading into the postseason. C-NS cruised past Ossining in the semifinals, and during this game, Stewart recorded 46 points — the most points a Northstar player had ever tallied in a state tournament game. In the championship game against Penfield, Stewart recorded 15 points and 13 rebounds in C-NS’ 62-48 victory.

During a tournament in Disney World during her junior year of high school, Stewart’s teammates were badgering her about where she was going to college. Stewart, with full confidence, told her teammates about her plans to go to UConn. She signed the university’s letter of intent on the hood of her car, Smith said, and after graduating from C-NS, Stewart went on to win four consecutive national titles with the Huskies.

“I don’t know anyone else more deserving,” Kolinski said. “Young girls in the community need to have more women to look up to.”

Published on May 26, 2021 at 5:51 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com