Christian Central Academy junior eclipses 1,000 points
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Amie Stuitje, middle, became the sixth Christian Central Academy basketball player to score over 1,000 points in school history. Also pictured are her parents, Kathie, far left, and CCA girls coach Gerry, far right.

Amie Stuitje moved into some elite company on the basketball court.

The 5-foot-5 junior guard became the second girl and sixth overall player in Christian Central Academy history to score over 1,000 career points.

Stuitje accomplished the feat on Jan. 31 in a regular-season road game against New Life Christian School at Rushford Middle School in the Cuba-Rushford School District.

Stuitje said she needed nine points to break 1,000 and achieved it with a breakaway layup in the first quarter. The game was stopped and Stuitje, who can play point guard and shooting guard, received a basketball signed by her teammates. Stuitje finished the game tied for season high with 26 points, as CCA won, 59-49.

Stuitje has 1,170 career points with another year left to play.

"It does kind of blow my mind," said Stuitje, who has played organized basketball since the fourth grade. "I've been given a gift, and I've always had teammates and coaches help me go with it."

One of those coaches is her father, Gerry, who took over as CCA varsity girls' hoops coach before the season. Coach Stuitje is not playing favorites when he says his daughter is a leader on the court.

"Both as a coach and father I know how hard she works at the game," he said. "She's had a passion for basketball since she was very young. It's very gratifying to see that all of her hard work has produced that kind of recognition."

Coach Stuitje said what has been most pleasing about his daughter's game is that she is not just a scorer. She was the team leader in points (483, 16.1 average), shooting percentage (47.2) and free-throw percentage (70.8 percentage) and also led the team in assists (190, 6.3 average) and steals (114, 3.8 average).

"She by far led the team in assists and does things that don't end up on the stat sheet," he said. "Many teams have tried to press her, but her ball-handling ability and the ability to see the court generally helped us break a press easily. She also has the ability to get the ball to teammates when they're open but not expecting it. Players have become ready when they're open because, more often than not, Amie will get the pass to them."

Amie Stuitje led CCA to a 27-3 record and the Independent Athletic Conference and Niagara Frontier Christian Athletic Association tournament titles for the second straight year. CCA also won both league's regular-season titles and the NFCAA last year. She also has been an All-League IAC First Team selection the last three years.

She also plays year-round through AAU travel ball, playing once for the Niagara Police Athletic League and now with a team comprising players from Starpoint High School.

"It really does make you a better player," she said. "You get different coaches and you play with different girls. Everything is a level up from what you play (during high school season) because it's the best of the best."

"I'm pretty confident she knows more about basketball than I do," joked coach Stuitje. "It's kind of intimidating as a coach, but that's a product of the excellent coaches she's had in the past. Plus she's been to excellent basketball camps."

Amie Stuitje, who also has played sweeper the last two years for the CCA varsity girls' soccer team, helped the squad win the IAC title this past fall. She earned Second Team all-league honors.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com