Panther Creek basketball power forward jump-starts Cary team’s state title aspirations

Kirstin Smalls jumped, time and again, for a season high 17 rebounds to help the Panther Creek girls’ basketball team defeat Holly Springs 57-45 on February 10. While that game’s outcome cemented the Catamounts’ undefeated league run to a Southwest Wake 4A Conference regular season championship, Smalls’ high jumping championship weekend only had begun.

The following day, Smalls ascended 5 feet, 8 inches to claim the N.C. 4A indoor track and field high jump state championship.

“If she’s jumping, she’s present there,” Panther Creek girls’ basketball coach Danielle Sullivan said. “If she’s on the basketball court, she’s present there.”

Smalls, a two-sport winter athlete, participated in just one pre-state meet high jump event to qualify for the championship. Her 5-foot-8 state meet-winning height was four inches higher than her closest challenger, and is among the state’s 15 best all-time marks.

Smalls, a 6-foot basketball center/power forward, will look to make another championship mark Saturday, when the Catamounts make their first appearance in a hoops final. Panther Creek (28-4) will meet Lake Norman at noon in UNC’s Dean E. Smith Center.

“It’s just an accomplishment showing my work ethic overall,” Smalls said, “and our work ethic as a team.”

Smalls’ contributions to making two teams work are rooted in communication — specifically, talking directly to others despite 21st-century technology opportunities to avoid such interactions.

“I find talking up front, face-to-face to be much easier,” Smalls said. “There are no gaps in anything, so they know exactly what they need to know.”

Smalls’ upfront self-advocacy delights Sullivan, who explained the two-fold degree to which Smalls is proactive in her schedule management. Several times, Smalls went straight from one practice to another, including the day she qualified for the indoor track and field state meet. Smalls is known to sprint in the Panther Creek gymnasium’s door just before the buzzer sounds to begin basketball practice.

“She’s been really good to say, ‘I need to be here, if possible,’” Sullivan said of Smalls making track and field arrangements. “She’s already done the legwork to look and see what our schedule looks like.”

There, too, is the imperative task of managing team members’ perceptions of Smalls’ commitments, for which Smalls, again, takes the lead.

“They all know before I know where she’s going to be, what she’s got going on, how it’s going to work,” Sullivan said. “I don’t have to worry about them being like, ‘Where’s Kirstin?”

Then, again, one might answer that question by finding basketball teammate Olivia Tucker. Smalls often asks Tucker to accompany her when talking to Panther Creek indoor track and field coach Paul Scruggs. Smalls admitted her prevailing reason for doing so is to get fellow junior Tucker to join her on the track and field team, too.

“No, thank you,” Tucker said with a laugh, before affirming Smalls’ grounding perspective.

“She really wants big things to happen for her and us as a team,” Tucker added.

Smalls has done her part on the hardwood, averaging nearly nine rebounds per game — a team best. Smalls has averaged a double-double in points and rebounds through five state playoffs games. Smalls scored 16 points in the Catamounts’ state semifinal win, 61-56 over Hillside on March 4. Her sharp baseline pass for an assist on Madisyn Jordan’s fourth quarter 3-pointer secured for Panther Creek a 51-48 lead the Catamounts held for the remainder of the game.

“The energy is there,” Smalls said. “It turns into the next play.”

After Smalls’ assist and Jordan’s trifecta, the game’s next field goal was a 3-pointer by Tucker, who explained Smalls’ additional speaking role — “hype” woman — among Catamounts players.

“She’ll cheer you up if you’re down,” Tucker said. “She can read a lot of body language. If someone’s having an off day, she’ll definitely come over and cheer you up.”

Emotional support — like Tucker provides Smalls during conversations with Scruggs — is reciprocated per Smalls’ understanding of the dynamic by which she and Tucker and the rest of the hardwood Catamounts thrive.

“She’s not going to ‘sugarcoat’ it,” Smalls said of Tucker.

“I can hype you up, but she’s going to tell you what it is,” Smalls added. “After she tells you what it is, I’ve got your back.”

This two-way accountability in deed and word modeled by Smalls, Tucker and Sullivan has Panther Creek on the precipice of history.

“She’s going to hold her guards accountable when they don’t see her inside. But she’s also going to hold herself accountable when she misses a layup, or she turns the ball over,” Sullivan said.

“The levels of accountability she has for herself are the same she has for her teammates, which kind of spreads.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2023 at 8:37 AM.