Harry S Truman senior Daisha Campbell became the fourth female in program history to surpass the 1,000-point mark.
Collette Munford recognized early on Daisha Campbell was destined to be something special.
“I was coaching her sister Jayda, and Daisha was only in first grade,” the Harry S Truman basketball coach said. “She would come in the gym, I 
was dribbling, and she was like, ‘Can you show me what you just did?’
“The next practice she came back, tapped me and said, ‘Look.’ I’m like, ‘Oh man, we’ve got something special here.’”
Campbell proved her coach right, putting her name in the program’s record books when – in the Tigers’ loss to Central Bucks West on Jan. 3 – she surpassed the 1,000-point milestone.
The senior point guard entered the game needing 14 points. She reached the milestone in the third quarter, turning a steal into a layup. She finished with a game-high 20.
“This is what she always said she wanted as a little girl,” Munford said. “It was a shocker for her. She was going to sit down for a timeout.”
“When they stopped the game, I’m like, ‘Somebody called a timeout, okay,’” Campbell said. “I wasn’t too sure about it.
“This was my goal going into Truman. I remember Khristaijah Jackson was the last female to do it. I remember before she went overseas (to play professional basketball), I said, ‘I’m going to get my thousand and be right underneath you,’ and I made it.”
Campbell – inspired by older sister Jayda who plays at Bryn Athyn College – credits Munford for teaching her a sport that is now her passion.
“She taught me how to dribble – I came back the next day perfecting it,” Campbell said. “I grew up with her since day one when I started basketball. She’s my mom basically. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t even be playing basketball, to be honest.”
Campbell made her debut on her sister’s AAU team, the Bucks County Tigers.
“She was always like, ‘Can I go in, can I go in?’” Munford said. “But she was three years younger.
“I got her a uniform, bought her some sneaks, and one day we were getting beat, and I just looked at her and said, ‘Come on, you’re going in. We’re playing man.’ She went out and played man against the tallest girl on the court, and she was the shortest. There was no fear.”
Not a whole lot has changed since then. Campbell is the fearless leader of a young and inexperienced basketball team. She remains positive even though her team has won just three times in its first 12 games.
“I told her – ‘You’re a senior, you’re a captain. Everything they see you do they’re going to do whether it’s good or bad. You have to lead by example – on the court, everywhere, and if you don’t, I’m going to hold you accountable like everybody else because if they see you get away with it they’re going to want to get away with it. You may not have wanted this role, but it’s the role you have,’” Munford said.
Campbell has embraced her role as captain and leader.
“They feed off my energy, and if I’m down, they’re going to be like, ‘Okay, Daisha is down. I can be down too,’ but I always have to keep that positive mentality,” Campbell said. “My coaches are always telling me they look up to me, they feed off what I’m doing. If I have bad energy, they’re going to have bad energy.”
The senior captain’s positive attitude on the court has not gone unnoticed. A former college coach sought Campbell out after she reached the 1,000-point milestone in the Tigers 72-35 loss at West.
“Excuse me, I just want to shake your hand,” the woman said. “I used to coach college and play in college. It’s not just the score. It’s the way you carried yourself on the court and never quit working and kept fighting.
“When people go to recruit, they don’t just look at the skills, they look at how you carry yourself and how you treat your teammates and how you don’t hang your head. I hope you go somewhere because you’re going to contribute.”
Campbell will continue her basketball career at Harcum College.
Only the fourth female to score 1,000 points at Truman and first since 2014, the senior captain will be honored for her accomplishment between games on Monday night. It’s one of many gestures that have made the milestone memorable.
Last week, she was called to the office and arrived to find flowers from the Central Bucks West girls’ team.
“I felt the love,” Campbell said. “On social media, people are tagging me. I’m in the hallways, and people are like ‘Hey, Miss 1K.’ I feel all the love, and I’m like – wow.
“I got my thousand but I’m not going to stop here. I’m going to continue to keep going. Just because I got my thousand doesn’t mean anything.”
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