Sports

After injuries, Moore’s Rubin stronger person, more versatile player

Victoria Rubin’s injuries changed her development as a player.

The Moore Catholic rising senior transferred to the Grantville, Staten Island school from St. John Villa after her freshman year to be with her two sisters. She had to miss her sophomore year because of transfer rules and tore her right ACL before it began, depriving her of the most important evaluation period heading into her junior year with the NYC Heat. On top of that, she hurt her meniscus in the same knee entering this travel ball season.

“It’s an emotional roller coaster,” Rubin said. “All you want to do it play and then you realize you can’t play. … I can’t picture myself doing anything else. It’s what I love.”

Her passion burned so much that she couldn’t put the ball down. Rubin, who had only played forward growing up, found herself working on her shooting form in her bedroom. She put a circle sticker on the ceiling, lay on her back in bed and kept hitting it over and over again. It added versatility to her game. At 5-foot-10 she can guard the biggest player on the court and create a missmatch on the other end because of her ability to shoot from the perimeter.

“I couldn’t do anything else,” she said. “I couldn’t pivot. I couldn’t dribble. I just shot.”

Rubin felt lucky that she still had basketball surrounding her with sisters Christina, who is headed to Iona College on a full scholarship, and Gabriella, a rising junior at Moore who has hit numerous big shots. She wasn’t sure what she would have done without her family there.

“I was really emotional last year, being around them more,” Rubin said of her sisters. “It made me a stronger person. … If I put my head down thinking about my knee they would just pick me back up.”

Last winter, she got back on the court and was a contributor off the bench for Moore as it reached the CHSAA Class AA state final. Rubin, who has Division II interest, had seven points in a quarterfinal win over Bishop Ford.

She is making up for lost time when it comes to her recruiting. Rubin has impressed Heat coach Hugh Flaherty so far with her basketball IQ, passing and ability to be a distributor in the post for knock down open shots.

“She’s like the best kept secret, “Flaherty said. “She could be good. … She gives us toughness.”

Rubin is healthy now, still playing with a brace on her knee, but moving well. She said she is more focused on basketball now than ever before. Her injuries are behind her, but they also shaped her into the player she is today.

“Things happen for a reason,” Rubin said. “God can’t give me anything I can’t handle. It’s telling me how strong I am that I made this type of a comeback.”