Kara Ayers might not have an NCAA Tournament appearance to show for her five years and four basketball seasons at St.
Francis College, but the senior guard is making history at the Brooklyn Heights school nonetheless. Ayers on Tuesday became the first Terrier to capture the Northeast Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week award in a decade — providing a fitting exclamation point to a career that has seen her battle back from injury while lifting her game to unprecedented heights. And she certainly isn’t giving up hope on that elusive NCAA bid, as evidenced by her performance during St. Francis’ stretch run for a coveted slot in the NEC Tournament. Though Ayers shared the NEC honor with Monmouth’s Jennifer Bender, the 5-foot-9 sharpshooter did yeoman work in leading the Terriers back to within two games of the eighth-place Hawks in the hunt for the final tourney spot. Playing 78 of a possible 80 minutes last week, Ayers averaged 23 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. She also happened to knock down a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute of Monday’s must-have 61-60 triumph over visiting Robert Morris on Remsen Street. The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for coach Brenda Milano’s previously struggling unit, and renewed hope that a strong performance over the season’s final five games would give St. Francis a shot at the NECs. Ayers hit 6-of-14 shots from 3-point range during the week while going a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe. Not bad for a player who sat out her entire first season due to a stress fracture in her right second metatarsal – an injury incurred during her senior campaign at New Jersey’s Absegami High School.
They used to call Ayers “The Boot†back then as she hobbled around campus with a protective cast. Now, they might just call her one of the top players in school history.