PITTSBURGH — Filming, doing laundry, setting up the water cooler and cleaning up after practice were not menial chores to Kaitlyn Eagle.

They were the Seneca Valley graduate’s duties as student manager of the Duquesne University women’s basketball team last season.

“I enjoyed it. I was around the game,” Eagle said. “I didn’t realize I would miss basketball as much as I did.”

A point guard at Seneca Valley, Eagle received mild interest from Division III schools, but opted to attend Duquesne and enter the physician assistant’s program there.

Already serving as president of the Duquesne chapter of the Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN), a community of advocates who help raise money for issues in Africa, Eagle decided to add the title of student manager for the Lady Dukes to her resume.

“I like to get involved and saw they needed somebody,” she said. “If I couldn’t play, I figured this would be the next best thing.”

Only now, she’s going to play.

Eagle made Duquesne’s roster as a walk-on during the off-season despite being a part-time starter in high school, having torn a ligament in an ankle just before her senior season.

“There was an opening on the team and the other players were really supportive and pushing me to go for it,” Eagle said. “Like I said, I missed playing and I had nothing to lose.”

The coaching staff ran her through some drills, she worked out and practiced with the team — and has become part of the team.

It didn’t hurt that Duquesne coach Dan Burt knew what Eagle was going through mentally.

“There’s a special place in my heart for someone like Kaitlyn because I did the exact same thing in school,” he said. “I was student manager at West Liberty my freshman year and wound up walking on and making the team there.

“I never played very much, but I know what it feels like to miss basketball, to still want to play and wondering if you’re good enough.”

After injuring her ankle, Eagle put off eventual surgery so she could play her senior year at Seneca Valley. She sank 12 3-pointers in a part-time role as the Raiders finished 8-12 and missed the playoffs.

As a junior, Eagle played a key role in helping SV win 14 games, its first winning season in five years.

Eagle’s older sister, Aly, had a solid basketball career at Penn State Behrend. Eddie Benton, an assistant coach at Duquesne, formerly coached at La Roche and coached against Eagle’s sister.

“Eddie told me that if Kaitlyn plays with the same intensity and attitude of her sister — and she does — she can help us,” Burt said.

“I don’t know if she’ll get many minutes or how that’s all going to work, but Kaitlyn is a phenomenal student academically. Her heart and desire, along with that academic standing, is the type of player we want.”

Eagle admitted she was “pretty surprised” when she received word she made the team.

“My sister had great basketball skills and sometimes I felt like I was expected to be just like Aly in high school,” she said. “That was a tough situation for me.

“Right now, I’m trying to get involved in as many drills in practice as I can. I’m learning the press breaks and different defenses, trying to keep up with the pace they play at and gain the trust of my teammates.”

Eagle is now teammates with Butler graduate Olivia Bresnahan, Duquesne’s starting point guard.

“Liv was one of my idols when I was growing up,” Eagle said. “I have so much respect for her skills and how hard she works at and plays the game.

“Getting to be a teammate of hers ... I can’t describe what that means to me.”

Burt said Eagle has earned her spot on the team.

“Nothing was handed to her,” he declared. “She worked hard to make this team because she misses the camaraderie that goes with being part of a team — and I can appreciate that.”

Eagle is simply thrilled to be donning a uniform again.

“I love basketball. I’ve been playing since I was a toddler. Maybe this was meant to be,” she said.