Upper Merion senior Regie Robinson surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in the Vikings’ 58-35 win over Interboro. (A recap of the Vikings' win will be included in Saturday's wrap.) The following feature article is sponsored by Xtreme Hoops.
By Mary Jane Souder
KING OF PRUSSIA – Regie Robinson can pretty much do it all on the basketball court.
“She can play and defend – at the high school level – every position on the floor,” Upper Merion coach Tom Schurtz said. “As a coach, that’s a tremendous luxury to know that your best player is also your best defender and can defend every spot.
“She’s covered the other team’s center, and then three plays later, she’s been on the point guard, depending on the situation. Not many players can do that.”
Not many players ever reach the 1,000-point mark either, but the senior standout added her name to Upper Merion’s short list on Friday when – with 2:12 remaining in the opening quarter of the Vikings’ non-league game against Interboro – she hit nothing but net on the first of two foul shots, setting off a brief celebration as Robinson was presented balloons and flowers from former Upper Merion players Kristina O’Sullivan, Katherine Bailey, Nikki Briskin and Liz Botto.
“There were a good number of teammates she had played with at the game today, which was nice to see,” Schurtz said. “Essentially, they all tried to make it back.”
Robinson - who went on to score a game-high 15 points in a 58-35 UM win – first discovered she was approaching the coveted milestone in the title game of the Kaitlin Anzelone Bracket at the Boardwalk Classic in Wildwood on Monday.
“At the beginning of the season, I was aware that I was really close to getting a thousand,” Robinson said. “At the end of our last game on Monday, I had 999 points, and Schurtz pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to get my points now or wait until I got home. I wanted to wait until I got home to share it with my family and friends.”
Robinson is the seventh female to reach the 1,000-point mark at Upper Merion. Interestingly, she has played with two of them – O’Sullivan and Cassidy Koenig.
“For each player, it was very exciting, and I’m definitely lucky that I got to share their moment with them,” Robinson said. “We all got to play with each other.
“That’s something I really am grateful and lucky I got to experience that within my high school career because not a lot of people get to do that. I feel lucky.”
Robinson needed just one point to reach the 1,000-point plateau entering Friday's game.
“It was on my mind all last night that today was the big day,” she said. “It’s really exciting because Schurtz was just telling us the other day at practice that even though we’ve had so many people in the past couple of years score a thousand points - within the Upper Merion 1,000-point club, there actually aren’t a lot of people. It really is special.”
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Regie Robinson pretty much grew up with a basketball in her hand.
Her father, Reggie Robinson, surpassed the thousand-point mark during a stellar career at Radnor High School, where he is in the Hall of Fame. He went on to have a brilliant career at Villanova University, also reaching the 1,000-point milestone and earning a spot in the school’s prestigious Hall of Fame. He went on to play professional basketball in Europe for several years as well.
“With my dad being such a great player, it was something that was introduced to me at a very young age,” Regie said. “A lot of people think it’s because of my dad that I play, and that’s definitely a factor, but I enjoy playing the sport. I’ve always enjoyed it.”
The support of her father and her entire family has been significant.
“They’ve always supported everything that I’ve done,” Robinson said. “I have a good family, and it’s great to have all that support with every decision. Even if it’s a bad decision, they’ll guide me in the right direction.”
Robinson got her first taste of organized basketball as a youngster playing for her community park and rec league. It wasn’t long before she was playing for the King of Prussia Patriots travel team, and by the time she was 10, Robinson had joined the AAU circuit, most recently playing for the Philly Triple Threat.
She has been a starter and impact player since her freshman year at Upper Merion.
“I first saw Reg when she was in sixth grade, and you pretty much knew then she was going to be a great player,” Schurtz said. “What’s really interesting isn’t that she was a good player. She was always going to be a good player.
“I think it’s interesting that she’s developing into a lead guard at the high school level. She’s not really a typical point guard only because she’s 5-10, and it’s not her natural position. What’s great this year is even though this is her fourth year starting and her second year as a lead guard, this is the first year where I see her getting all of her teammates involved. You can see that over the course of the season already how many different players we’ve had go for double figures.”
Schurtz pointed to Robinson’s play in the Vikings 43-42 win over archrival Norristown when she found teammate Tatiana Pleasant for the game winner as an indication of just how far she has come.
“I think the most impressive thing I’ve seen her do in her four years - we were down one with maybe 30 seconds left, and even though a couple of teammates had missed critical shots late in the game, she still gave up the ball because that’s what the play called for, and I think that was the last step in her maturation into a complete player,” Schurtz said. “That was her trust in her teammates, and I think that’s going to make us a better team in the long run and her a better player.”
In the Vikings 47-36 win over Wildwood in Monday’s title game, Robinson had 28 points, 16 rebounds, four steals, a blocked shot and three assists.
“That’s filling up a stat page,” Schurtz said. “That’s a tremendous asset to have when your point guard is currently your leading rebounder and leads in points and leads in assists. It’s the type of athlete she is.”
It is also a reflection of Robinson’s team-first approach that she did not force shots in an attempt to reach the milestone in Friday’s contest.
“To her credit and to the team’s credit, they never really forced the ball to her,” Schurtz said. “They just let the game come to her.
“She took shots that were appropriate. Other players took shots that were appropriate, that they should be taking in games. Sometimes you see it where you want to get your teammate to that mark so bad that you change the way you play. Our team didn’t do that, and I was real happy to see that.”
Robinson is the third in an impressive trio to reach the coveted milestone in what has been a special era for Upper Merion basketball.
“Of the three of them, Regie was the basketball player,” Schurtz said. “Cassidy Koenig was the volleyball player and O’Sullivan was the soccer player, but Regie has always been a basketball player first. She’s been at Upper Merion through grade school and high school, and this has been a priority for her – just staying with the program and being part of this program.
“It’s refreshing to see a kid who puts basketball first and puts her team first. It’s really emblematic of where the program has come over the last five years that she herself has shepherded us to a whole new level. We’ve been very competitive and in large measure due to her. I know a lot of coaches in our league will be happy to see her go. I will not be one of them.”
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