Natalie Hambly breaks Seneca Valley girls basketball all-time scoring record against Butler
JACKSON TWP — Natalie Hambly is usually good for a remarkable quote.
Yet, a few days before claiming Seneca Valley’s girls basketball scoring record, the Raiders’ senior guard wasn’t very outspoken about her own talents.
“I just play my game,” Hambly said Monday. “I think it just speaks for itself.”
Hambly broke Marlesse Schlott’s 34-year old school standard of 1,062 career points during Thursday’s 48-27 home win against Butler. She scored 11 points, bringing her total to 1,064.
The Raiders moved to 7-0 in WPIAL Section 1-6A and 11-5 overall.
“It means a lot to get this (record) during a season when we’re having so much success,” Hambly said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
Aside from her production, Hambly brings an invaluable mindset to the team.
“Natalie is a workhorse,” SV coach Dorothea Epps said. “We have to tell her to go home sometimes. She’s a great teammate. She tries to keep the girls up. She just has that personality.
“We’ve even gotten shirts with the quotes that she gives. We could probably have about 10 shirts a year with her quotes. She just comes up with them, and everybody just cracks up because we call them Natal-isms. Just like Tomlin-isms.”
Well, her father usually comes up with them first.
“My dad says a lot of that stuff at the house, good quotes,” Hambly said. “I’m just like, ‘Alright, I like that,’ and make up my own quotes.”
Hambly, who’s originally from northern Texas, moved to the Seneca Valley School District in seventh grade. She’s since earned the respect and admiration of her teammates, so much so that they’ll wear her words on their shirts.
“We were bringing it all in,” Epps said. “We always say, ‘Seneca Valley on 3.’ So as we’re coming in, she says, ‘We are the (hunters)!’ And this is the favorite part, though — ‘Y’all.’ Because she’s from down south, so she says, ‘Alright y’all, we the (hunters)!’ ... It’s like, ‘OK, that’s a shirt.’”
“Personally, coming into any competition, like basketball, it’s like, you’ve gotta be the (hunters),” Hambly said. “And that’s what we’re really focusing on this year, being the hunter and not being the hunted. ... We won the section last year. We’re coming in, we’re hunting. It’s how it has to be when you’re competing.”
Hambly approaches anything she can as the aggressor, whether it be on the court or in the classroom.
She hadn’t been tallying her total as she neared the Raiders’ high-water mark.
“I just play my game, just stay locked in,” Hambly said. “I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. I just try to look at what’s ahead. Next game mentality.”
“We don’t talk about it much, as far as trying to get it for her,” Epps said beforehand. “But you could just tell with the buzz that they know. And they just know how hard she works. That’s what I think they appreciate most, and that’s what they try to follow. The lead of hers is that she just works, and she wants to win first.”
