When Katelyn Pickunka was a sophomore at Hampshire Regional, she got hurt, and hurt badly – a pretty serious knee injury forced her off the court and field while she recovered.

It made her sit down and think – what would the rest of her athletic career look like? Could she come back and keep playing at the level she was capable of? There were a lot of questions she didn’t know the answers to. 

Her mother, Marilyn Pickunka, had a conversation with her high school coach Amy Cyr. Knowing that Cyr was neighbors with well-known Smith College basketball coach Lynn Hersey, Marilyn asked if Hersey could talk to Katelyn during the tumultuous time. Cyr made a call, and Hersey cleared a space in her schedule to talk with the high school sophomore.

“We made an arrangement where she talked to Coach Hersey, and she’s like, ‘You’re gonna be a baller,’” Marilyn said. “So Katelyn changed her focus from playing college soccer to playing college basketball. Coach Hersey really inspired her to get her head back to the game and not let that injury rattle her identity as a competitor.” 

Pickunka was a baller – she scored 1,279 points as a high schooler at Hampshire Regional, scoring her 1,000th point against Ludlow as a senior during a 31-point effort. She committed to Smith, where she would get to play for Hersey, who she kept in touch with after that fateful conversation in high school.

On Saturday, she secured her spot in Smith basketball history, knocking down her 1,000th career point in an 88-78 win over Brooklyn College. She needed just two points to hit the milestone, and the 5-foot-9 graduate student scored it in classic Pickunka fashion – grinding out a hard-earned layup in the paint. 

It hasn’t been easy for Pickunka – her junior year was essentially wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was difficult to sit and wait to see what the rest of her college career would look like. Instead of playing a typical four-year career, Pickunka had to decide whether or not she’d come back for her fifth season – though she says the choice wasn’t hard.

Of course she would come back and ball for Hersey and her teammates. 

“It’s been a long five years, a lot of work, a lot of support – coaches, teammates, family. That’s a huge (milestone) to hit in high school and in college,” Pickunka said. “So I’m very lucky to have this opportunity to come back for a fifth year and get that chance, because with COVID, it hasn’t been an option for everyone. So I also want to show how grateful I am for this opportunity to try and make something really special out of it.” 

Pickunka has been a monumental part of Smith College’s recent success. The Pioneers won the NEWMAC conference championship last year and made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Div. 3 tournament. She started all 28 of Smith’s games and shot 52.7 percent from the field and was named to the NEWMAC All-Conference First Team and NEWBA and D3Hoops.com All-Region Second Teams. What stands out to Hersey more than her stats, though, is her attitude that she brings to the court.

“We pride ourselves on the competitive element of our program. And KP, she does that every day. That is in her blood, it’s who she is, and it’s infectious to the rest of the group,” Hersey said. “I’m excited for her to hit that milestone, but I think her big win is her four-year college record, the team she’s played on, the wins we’ve been able to get and the success we’ve been able to have in the NCAA Tournament. So I think the her competitive nature has really helped our program advance to that.” 

It’s a sweet moment for Pickunka, quite literally – her mother, a baker, regularly bakes sweet treats for the Smith basketball team. Players who are having particularly good games get to choose the flavor of the next batch of treats. In anticipation of the milestone, a new ‘celebration’ whoopie pie flavor was created just for Pickunka. She’ll enjoy the moment (and the whoopie pie) for now before looking ahead to the rest of her season, eyes fixed firmly on a deeper run in the NCAA tournament.

The Pioneers are off until Dec. 30 when they host Bridgewater State to open up the Smith Holiday Tournament at 1 p.m.