YORK, Pa. – Kerri Saputo felt something was wrong with her back heading into her sophomore basketball season at Poly Prep. There was discomfort, but the three-sport athlete pushed through the pain.
“I knew it was getting really bad, but I was like, ‘Oh I can’t miss basketball season, oh I can’t miss softball season.’” said Saputo, who also plays volleyball. “I just put it off until the summer.”
Last July, just before she was set to start her first travel season with the NYC Heat, she went to get it checked out. The doctor found a stress fracture in her lower back, believed to be caused by overuse. It was the same injury Poly Prep teammate Jessica Dahldorf dealt with as a sophomore. It kept Saputo off the AAU circuit and left her limited physically.
“I couldn’t do any activity whats ever,” she recalled. “I couldn’t go running. I couldn’t walk fast.”
She didn’t need a brace. Saputo focused on strengthening her core three days a week for 10 weeks. The sharp-shooting 5-foot-6 rising senior guard is better now, playing with the Heat and coach Huey Flaherty at the Blue Chip USA Invitational at the Toyota Arena in York, Pa this weekend.
St. John Villa point guard Dorothy O’Neill and her family were the ones who recommended the Queens-based travel program to Saputo after playing on the PAL Diamonds together when they were younger.
“It’s a lot of familiar faces,” she said. “I knew how everyone played.”
Saputo, who is looking for a strong academic Division III school, is trying to make up for lost time after missing her junior summer. She is well known around the Ivy League ranks after helping lead Poly Prep to consecutive league crowns as a freshman and sophomore and a berth in the NYSAISAA Class C title game last season, but knows more college coaches need to see her in action. She already has basketball interest from Springfield and Ithaca.
“I knew I had to get my name out there,” said Saputo, who wants to study physical therapy in college. “Now I only have this summer.”
It’s her versatility that will make her attractive. She and graduating senior Katie Friel made up one of the city’s best 3-point shooting combinations last winter. Saputo, who will form a 1-2 punch for the Blue Devils with Jacquie Kennedy next year, was asked to play down low on defense often by Poly coach Mike Junsch and was at the center position at times for the Heat on Friday.
“She has a little spark in her,” Flaherty said. “She rebounds. She can shoot the three.”
Now that she is fully healthy, her energy and effectiveness on the court should only increase.