Kaisha Lucky knows a thing or two about finding success at a small school — now she is looking to do it again.
“Grand Street, nobody wanted to go there when I went there,” Lucky said. “It was like building a big program.”
The Wolves finished 2–13 the year before she arrived in East Williamsburg. Three years later, the teams were playing for a Public School Athletic League Class AA city title. Last season it reached its second-straight semifinal. Lucky leaves as the first Division-I scholarship player and hopes to spearhead a similar revival at St. Peter’s College over the next four years.
“That was like one of the big reasons,” she said. “Nobody wants to go to a little school, everybody want to go to a big school. They don’t think they can help at a little school.”
The Peacocks, a squad coming off a 4–26 season under third-year coach Pat Coyle, is beginning to tap into the New York City talent. St. Peter’s, which plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, also landed Christ the King senior center Ashlie Howell.
And Lucky will be a dynamic guard who understands how to lead.
The Courier All-Brooklyn First Team selection is adept at getting to the basket and averaged 16.6 points and five rebounds per game during the regular season. She helped make an attractive alternative to traditional Brooklyn powers South Shore and Midwood.
Her only regret was that she didn’t deliver a championship.
“I wanted to finish it, but I am going to college for free, so there is nothing you can really complain about,” Lucky said.
She said she originally dreamed about going away to school, but she turned down Siena and Western Carolina.
Lucky, who understands she needs to get quicker to make a bigger impact at the next level, felt right at home with the staff and her future teammates in Jersey City.
“We all had the same mindset,” she said. “It wasn’t like you can come here and ‘Oh you can dominate.’ It was ‘If you come here, we will take care of you.’ ”
And Lucky wants to take care of them — by winning like she did at Grand Street. She believes do so close to home will make it even more special and further help the next generation of Wolves as well.
“I think it will put some of the other girls on the map,” Lucky said of what she’s accomplished. “So people will be actually looking at Grand Street.”
