Hampton grad nears unexpected milestone with Waynesburg women's basketball team

Hampton graduate Brooke Fuller was frustrated and struggling as a freshman at Waynesburg when she set an unimaginable goal.

“I looked at her and said, ‘Brooke, do you realize if you don’t get any better than you are right now, you are on pace to score 1,000 (points)?’ ” Yellow Jackets women’s basketball coach Sam Jones said. “She said she had no idea. … That got her excited. She started working really hard, and she has improved so much since then.”

Fuller, a 6-foot senior center, is on the cusp of the milestone. She had scored 949 career points entering Waynesburg’s Jan. 8 game at Westminster and was on pace to become the 12th 1,000-point scorer in program history at Geneva on Jan. 15.

The Yellow Jackets (1-8, 1-2 PAC as of Jan. 7) also play at Bethany on Jan. 19.

Fuller wasn’t much of a scorer at Hampton, serving mainly as a rebounder and interior defender for the Talbots. But the raw ability that Jones noticed at a showcase at North Allegheny combined with hard work to transform her into a consistent offensive threat.

“In high school, I wasn’t close to 1,000 (points),” Fuller said. “So coming into Waynesburg that definitely wasn’t even on my mind. I would score (at Hampton), but it wasn’t what I was scoring now. I think that was huge shift for me. I don’t know what I expected coming in as a freshman. But it sure wasn’t this.”

Entering January, Fuller ranked fifth in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in scoring (15.3), first in rebounds (11.2), seventh in field goal percentage (.457) and third in blocked shots (1.7 bpg).

Despite a covid-shortened nine-game junior season, Fuller is on pace to dot Waynesburg’s all-time leaderboard before she is done. At her current rate, she will finish seventh in career points and fourth in rebounds and blocked shots.

She was named the PAC Player of the Week for the first time in early December after averaging 19.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks during a 1-1 week. Her 18 rebounds against Grove City on Dec. 1 was the second-most in a game by any PAC player this season.

“It was really nice to see her get that,” said Jones, in his 14th season. “She would be well over 1,000 already if her junior year hadn’t been cut short by covid. It was just nice to see her rewarded for lots of hard work.”

Beside her scoring, another big change for Fuller from high school was the wins and losses. Fuller went a combined 79-22 at Hampton with two trips to the WPIAL semifinals playing alongside high-scoring guards Laryn Edwards, Ali Collins and Jen Lafko.

At Waynesburg, wins have been rare. The Yellow Jackets went 8-18, 8-19 and 3-8 in her first three seasons. They were 1-8 this season through Christmas.

But Fuller says the struggles have improved her, both on and off the court.

“It’s a lot different than high school,” she said. “I have to be more positive. When you are losing … you have to be a positive leader. At Hampton it was so easy to be positive because you were winning.

“I have become such a different person, and I think that that’s for the better. Yes, I would like to win more. But I’m 21 years old. My basketball career is coming to an end. I’m glad that I’ve had a lot of learning experiences and had to overcome a lot of challenges.”

Fuller has never shied away from an obstacle. Last spring she joined the Waynesburg women’s golf team despite having virtually no experience in the sport. The pandemic had left the team — also coached by Jones — short on numbers, so Fuller raised her hand.

Fuller, who had played one match as a freshman at Waynesburg and “didn’t like it,” spent time in the school’s golf simulator to work on her swing. She averaged about 185 strokes per 18 holes, but that wasn’t the point.

“Due to covid, they didn’t have enough players,” she said. “It was only one season. … It was pretty bad. But it was definitely fun. I think I got a par 4 the one time, but my score still wasn’t good.

“(Coach Jones) had to help me a lot. In basketball, I know what I’m doing. In golf, I would smash the ball off a tree or lose my ball. He would be like, ‘Oh, it’s OK.’ And I’m not used to that because that’s not how it is in basketball.”

Fuller has always been a scorer for the Yellow Jackets, averaging 10.3 points as a freshman, 16.1 as a sophomore and 12.0 during last season’s covid-abbreviated season. This offseason, she lifted weights with a goal to improve her rebounding. She is hoping to reach 300 rebounds this season. She’s on pace for 288 and barring injury is certain to finish as one of the top five all-time rebounders in program history. Last season, she set a single-game school record with 21 against Thiel.

“Rebounds is something that I feel wasn’t always my strong suit in my four years at Waynesburg,” she said. “It’s definitely something I wanted to work on. I think (lifting weights) definitely has helped me. I feel stronger and even sometimes stronger than my opponents.”

She does heavy lifting off the court as well. She is majoring in communications-sports broadcasting and works for the campus newspaper, radio station and TV station. She has broadcast basketball and volleyball games and is passionate about a women’s leadership club.

Meanwhile, Fuller is poised to join Elisha Jones (2007-11) as the only players in program history to rank in the top 10 all-time in points, rebounds and blocked shots. Fuller, of course, will also hit the 1,000-point goal she set as a disheartened freshman.

“It’s really cool,” Fuller said, “to finish my basketball career reaching a goal that I never thought I could achieve.”