North Penn senior Jess Huber became the 12th North Penn female basketball player to surpass the 1,000-point mark.
Jess Huber is defined by her fiercely competitive nature. It’s a trait the North Penn senior learned early on in life.
“I’m the youngest of eight, so I pretty much had to fight for everything in my life,” Huber said. “Pretty much everything I do I want to win.
“All my friends think I’m crazy, but they always want to be on my team if we’re doing something competitive in class.”
Coach Maggie deMarteleire enjoys telling a story about her senior tri-captain that effectively captures Huber’s refusal to back down, no matter the circumstances.
“She used to come to our camps, and she was very competitive,” the Knights’ coach said. “The teams were all mixed, and Jess was in seventh grade and the girl she was playing against would have been in third grade.
“Jess blocked her shot like it was nobody’s business. People were upset – how could she do that? I said ‘I kind of like that competitive fire. That’s what I want to see,’ so I knew she had it in her.”
Huber laughs when she recalls the incident.
“When I blocked the girl’s shot, I just remember everyone’s reaction – who is this girl, and why does she think she can do that?” the Knights’ senior tri-captain said. “But Maggie was like, ‘I like that,’ so when she said that, I knew I was in the right high school.”
As a freshman, Huber – along with classmates Sam Carangi and Irisa Ye – earned spots on a varsity that went on to capture the 2014 District One 4A title.
“I wasn’t expecting to make varsity,” Huber said. “I honestly just wanted to make the team. For me to hear that I made varsity was a big achievement for me.”
While Carangi stepped into a starting role at point guard, Ye and Huber provided a spark off the bench.
“Everyone knew about Sam and Irisa because they played AAU,” deMarteleire said. “I feel like Jess was kind of flying under the radar when she was in middle school, but I definitely saw something in her when she was at our camps. She had a competitive nature.
“When she was in eighth grade, we had a middle school game. Sam and Irisa played for Pennbrook, and Jess played for Pennfield. The three of them all played so well, and trust me, I had a big fat smile on my face that day. I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to be really something.’ I knew she was very talented.”
Although she was a contributor, it might have been a stretch to think that Huber – who had just 298 points entering her junior year - would reach the 1,000-point milestone.
“Sometimes kids come in and they don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” deMarteleire said. “I feel like she just didn’t let her natural personality – which is a very competitive personality – take over until her junior year.”
That personality surfaced during the Knights’ postseason run to the state semifinals. In three state playoff games, Huber averaged over 18 points a game, and in a preview of things to come, it was the junior guard keeping her team in its district quarterfinal game against Central Bucks South. Huber’s three-point play with 2.9 seconds remaining in regulation gave the Knights a three-point lead.
Although that lead disappeared when South senior Jordan Vitelli buried a shot from beyond midcourt at the buzzer and the Titans went on to win in overtime, Huber had shown her mettle.
“We weren’t playing well, and all of a sudden Jess was like, ‘I refuse to lose,’ and her attitude became that,” deMarteleire said. “She had a phenomenal playoff run.”
Huber admits she felt a sense of urgency as the season came down the homestretch last year.
“I think I realized we’re not going to have many chances with the team we had last year with Mikaela (Giuliani) on it,” she said. “I really wanted to help my team and pretty much play for Mikaela because it was her last chance.”
This year it is Huber’s last chance, and she’s trying to make the most of it. She surpassed the 1000-point mark in last week’s 53-25 win over Garnet Valley in a playback game. Huber entered the game needing 22 points. She finished with 24, connecting on a three-pointer late in the third quarter to reach the milestone.
“You just would have thought after her sophomore year that she might not get it, but she really worked hard, and she improved her game,” deMarteleire said. “There are times when her three-point shooting is just lights out, and she can also attack the basket.
“She puts a lot of time in working on her game, and it’s been really fun to watch her.”
Huber follows in the footsteps of teammates Vicky Tumasz (2014), Mikaela Giuliani (2016) and senior Sam Carangi, who reached the milestone in North Penn’s win over Central Bucks West on Jan. 17.
Huber is relieved to have the accomplishment behind her.
“I never really asked coach Maggie about it because I knew it was going to get crazy with everyone asking me how many points,” she said. “Around when I needed a hundred more, people started counting down, so I knew pretty much every game the number.
“The last two games are when I started feeling a little bit of pressure. I just tried not to think about it and play my game. I just knew Sam (Carangi) literally gave me the ball every possession, so I knew she was trying to get me the points. When it happened, honestly, it was a sense of relief. To see everyone that supported me come out and watch the game, it was fun.”
Huber did not play AAU basketball until she was in eighth grade, most recently playing with Montgomery Fusion. Her success is the result of hard work.
“I remember Cathy Corrado, my assistant my first four or five years at North Penn, sending me an e-mail that said, ‘You have someone special coming up here. Every time I go by her house she is out shooting,’” deMarteleire recalled. “It was nine o’clock at night one summer, and she said, ‘I just took a walk, and she was outside working on her game.’”
Most of Huber’s siblings also played a sport, but it is her sister Katie Huber who has provided the inspiration.
“She plays college soccer at West Chester, so I always wanted to be like her because she was always there for me through everything,” Huber said. “That’s why I wanted to play soccer at first because she did, and then I realized that’s not my sport.”
Basketball is Huber’s sport, and she has signed a letter of intent to continue her career at the University of the Sciences where she will major in exercise science. It’s an ending she admits she couldn’t have imagined.
“I’d never even heard of the University of the Sciences before my sophomore year,” she said. “To be getting a scholarship is so humbling.
“Honestly, my goal coming into basketball was just to have fun and keep me straight in school and make sure my grades are good. For it to take me this far is just a dream come true.”
With the start of the state tournament on Friday, Huber and her teammates have some unfinished business to take care of before they close out the season.
“It’s a little different this year than last year,” Huber said. “All of us have matured, and we’ve been through it all.
“We want to go out with a bang. We don’t want to have any regrets.”
- Log in to post comments
