Sports

Ex-St. Peter’s sharpshooter will take talents to Curtis

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., – Kristen Olsen stormed onto the New York City girls basketball scene in the winter with 10 huge points to help lead St. Peter’s to a win against Moore Catholic for the Eagles 16th straight – and final – CHSAA Staten Island title. It was just her third varsity game after getting called up from the JV.

The rising junior hasn’t stopped performing since.

Olsen has been one of the premier players on NYC Heat Flaherty this travel season and next year could be one of the best 3-point gunners in the city.

“She is a tremendous shooter,” Heat coach Huey Flaherty said after a game Wednesday at the Blue Chip USA Invitational. “She probably has 65 3s in 25 games. She’s lighting it up right now.”

Where she’ll be taking that ability was a question given that St. Peter’s closed its doors for good last month. Star guard Jamie O’Hare will be playing at Moore Catholic, but Olsen has decided to attend Curtis, where legendary St. Peter’s coach Bob Daggett is expected to land, as The Post reported in May.

Olsen said that the trust Daggett showed in her this past season, bringing her up late from the JV to play vital games on the varsity sold her on joining him with the Warriors. Daggett’s propensity for getting players college scholarships also did not hurt the decision.

“He made me want to keep playing with him,” Olsen said. “I heard he was going to Curtis, I’d rather stay with him because I would get seen more.”

If the 5-foot-4 point guard is to become a star at the St. George school next year, which she has the potential to do, it could be dependent on her defense, according to Flaherty. That’s what he has drilled into her so far this travel season – that she isn’t just a shooter.

“I’m trying to convince her that her defense will create her offense,” Flaherty said. … “My thing is to make her believe you’re not just an offensive player. You have to defend first and then take it from there.”

Olsen has already shown an aptitude for making big plays. A 3-pointer in that tiebreaker game against Moore with 6:02 remaining in regulation put St. Peter’s ahead 40-36. Olsen had two free throws that gave the Eagles a 48-43 lead with 1:17 left and she converted a baseline layup with 1:07 left in overtime to expand the advantage to 56-53.

“For her to be able to do that, I’m just amazed,” O’Hare said at the time. “I knew she could do it. But I thought the pressure and the nerves might have got to her. But she obviously was able to prove herself and she did.”

The path to stardom has been a short road for Olsen. She went from not traveling much last summer with the Staten Island Diamonds to playing JV with St. Peter’s to contributing in one of the biggest games in the school’s rich history.

Could being the best shooter in the PSAL be next?

“I’m trying to get there,” Olsen said. “I’m working at it.”

mraimondi@nypost.com