Canton’s Sarah Benedetti has scored more than 1,000 points for St. Francis Brooklyn. (Photo courtesy St. Francis Brooklyn)
There has been a select group of eight players who have scored more than 1,000 career points at Canton High School. Sarah Benedetti may be the first of this group to score more than 1,000 points in college.
Benedetti, a senior forward at St. Francis Brooklyn, scored her 1,000th career point in a game against the University of Vermont in December on her home floor in Brooklyn. She is the 13th player in St. Francis history to achieve this milestone.
“It’s a great accomplishment, especially here at St. Francis,” Benedetti said. “It’s nice to see that my name is going to be up there with some of the better players. It’s crazy, I never thought of getting 1,000 points. To do it here at home is something I wanted to do. I wanted to be home with people and fans who care about you.”
Benedetti, a 5-foot-10 forward, crossed the 1,000 point threshold by draining a three-pointer – her fourth of the game. It was appropriate since she has nailed more three-point shots than any other player in school history.
“Sarah has had a great career up to this point,” St. Francis Brooklyn head coach John Thurston said. “She’s worked really hard to become more than just a threepoint shooter. She’s getting more shots this year. She’s improved defensively, her allaround game is as important as her getting 1,000 points.”
Benedetti spent her first two years with the Terriers, primarily as a starter. She averaged 7.9 points as a freshman and jumped up to 11.6 points a game as a sophomore with a team-leading 79 three-point goals. Last year as a junior, she was asked to come off the bench and she averaged 11.4 points a game, the second-leading scorer on the team. She did have a team-high 71 three-point goals.
Expectations were high at St. Francis this season coming off a campaign when the Terriers went 19-11. St. Francis was invited to play in the preseason WNIT. But wins have been hard to come by this season, St. Francis has won just three of its first 13 games.
Benedetti has started all 13 games and is averaging 11.5 points a game. She has sunk a team-leading 29 three-point shots. And she scored a season-high 17 points in the Vermont game and in the game prior to that when she had 17 against Army.
Benedetti graduated from Canton is 2011. She scored 1,653 points at Canton including school record 44 points in a win over Platt Tech of Milford in March 2010 in a Class S tournament game. She is the No. 2 scorer at Canton behind Natasha Pronga, who scored 1,801 points.
NOTES: Benedeitt was named to the 2012-13 Capital One women’s basketball Academic All-District First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)…Named to 2012-13 All-Northeast Conference Third Team. … Tied a career-high with 28 points against Robert Morris on Feb. 24, 2014. Also scored 26 against Robert Morris on January 28, 2012 as a freshman…. She tied team record of 7 three-point goals in a win over LIU Brooklyn in 2014. … Eight players have surpassed 1,000 career points at Canton High– four girls and four boys.
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