PHILADELPHIA – Late in a postseason run that would ultimately result in a Cardinal O’Hara girls’ Catholic League basketball title last February, then junior Kenzie Gardler was reminded that she was approaching the career 1,000-point plateau.
She flashed a smile.
“That,” she said, “is kind of a long way off, and right now, the only thing I’m thinking about is us winning a championship.”
Time flies.
In the Lions' 53-31 victory Tuesday night at St. Hubert High School, Gardler canned the second of two free-throw attempts with 1:41 remaining in the game. Then, everything stopped. Career point 1,000 was here, and her teammates and family were given a special few minutes to celebrate.
Below: Kenzie pictured after scoring her 1000th point with her mom Katie Curry Gardler under the banner that diplays her mother's name.
Katie Gardler and Kenzie - Photo courtesy of the Gardler Family
Kenzie pictured below with her mom (left) and her aunt Cathy Maloney Carchidi, who helped win the 1968 PCL girls basketball Championship for St. Hubert's - photo courtesy of the Gardler Family
- Photo courtesy of the Gardler Family
The irony of Kenzie scoring at Hubert’s was beyond rich.
Her mom, Katie (nee) Curry, a 1988 Hubert grad and star at St. Joseph’s University, scored most of her 1,000-plus points in that same gymnasium.
“It was a great accomplishment and to do it at my mom’s high school where she also scored 1,000 points at is so special and cool,” said Gardler. “It will be something we share forever.”
Gardler’s basketball lineage reads like a Who’s Who. In 1965, Kenzie’s aunt, Cathy Maloney Carchidi, was on the Hubert’s Catholic League championship squad. Kenzie’s father, Chris, was a standout at since-closed St. James High School before a solid career at both Widener and St. Joe’s, where he would meet Katie.
Her great grandmother, Catherine Mooney, played hoops at West Catholic. Her aunt, Meghan Gardler, was a former Catholic League Most Valuable Player and Catholic League champion who graduated in 2006 and went on to celebrate two NCAA Division I championships at the University of Connecticut. Her grandfather, former longtime O’Hara boys’ coach Bud Gardler, didn’t play high school ball, yet was good enough to make St. Joe’s as a walk-on.
After Kenzie’s free throw tossed her into the quadruple-figure brigade, Katie met her on the court with flowers and a huge embrace before returning to her seat while wiping her eyes. Gardler’s cousin, Sean Carchidi, provided the clutch video contribution.
“I should have known when she walked at seven months,” Katie quipped. “Born in May and walked clear across the floor with assistance at six and a half months, then at Christmas – seven months – she just got up and walked her first steps with no help.”
Kenzie Gardler, also a two-time MVP doubles-team tennis star and a main cog on two of the past three consecutive Catholic League O’Hara team championships, will play hoops at Villanova University next year. The likeable, 5-foot-7 shooting guard has a glowing reputation, but it far surpasses scoring, rebounding, passing, and defending.
Kenzie Gardler poses with her mom after winning the 2017 PCL Girls tennis title this past October - PSD Photo by Angelise Stuhl
During her time in the spotlight the past two years, Gardler has been a beacon for her teammates, making sure that other players receive notice for what they have attained. She also espouses O’Hara athletes who don’t play basketball or tennis.
“Kenzie is a great teammate,” said senior Drexel University-bound senior All-Catholic Maura Hendrixson. “Our team can always count on her to do whatever is needed.
“She’s very unselfish and helps make the whole team better in practice and in games. She’s such a great leader to us all.”
Lions coach Linus McGinty agrees.
“Kenzie’s been such a great kid,” said McGinty, O’Hara’s coach since the 1994-1995 season. “She practices the same way she plays. She hasn’t had a bad practice in four years. She shows up every day. She’s relentless.”
Every big moment has a dramatic background to it, as demonstrated by comparing the points of view of daughter and mom.
Mom Katie: “This wasn’t supposed to happen until Friday we thought. Kenz likes to pass the ball and scores 10 to 12 points a game, so Sunday night, needing 40, we thought (this coming Friday against visiting Lansdale Catholic) definitely.
“When she scored 20 versus McDevitt Monday night, we started thinking, could she? Thankfully my family always shows up at Hubert’s anyway, so that wasn’t going to be a problem.
Kenzie Gardler's 1,000th Point - Video by Sean Carchidi from MRC Tech, LLC
“Another 20-point game seemed out of reach in back-to-back games. At half she only had five points so we thought no way. I didn’t even go to the car and get the flowers, but as we moved into the fourth quarter it was getting closer, and as time was winding down, she drives one last time and gets fouled. She had no idea but at the foul line she looks over and we all had our phones out waiting patiently. She looked at us and laughed and ended up missing the first one. Nervous, I guess. Then, finally, she hit the second one.”
Daughter Kenzie: “In the beginning of the year, (O’Hara coach Linus McGinty) said I could definitely achieve it by the end of the season. So I knew from the beginning but I never knew an exact number of how far away I was, which I really liked because I didn’t stress about it and just played how I always play.
“It was actually funny because I had absolutely no idea the whole game I was close. There was about a minute left, we were up by 20 and Mr. McGinty yells, ‘Drive, Kenz!’ And I look over and say, ‘Really?’ And he says again, ‘Drive!’ And so I did and got the foul, then I look over to my family and all their phones are out and I started cracking up and said, ‘Now I’m going to miss.’ I of course missed that first foul shot. But then I made the second so it worked out, but I was nervous because that is when I figured out it was going to happen.”
It did happen. Kenzie Gardler became the 14th O’Hara player to score 1,000 points. And her uniform number? Umm . . . fourteen.
Just another chapter in the annals of Gardler genealogy.
(John Knebels can be reached at Jknebels@gmail.com or on Twitter @johnknebels.)