By Karrington Kincaid, The Seattle Medium
Holy Names Academy Basketball player Genesis Hopkins had another stellar performance last week as she helped her team come away with a 51-50 win over Blanchet High School.
Hopkins has been tearing up the basketball court in her senior year as she is averaging 16.4 points and 11 rebounds per game, while shooting 32.7% from the field and 37.5% from three-point range.
She’s also a tremendous defender with 4 steals and 3 blocks a game. Stats completely say one thing, but watching the film of Hopkins, says another. Noticeably Hopkins is all over the court consistently dominating opponents and causing havoc for the game plan of the other team.
Her athleticism and hustle have made it much easier for her team to be in sync with one another and score more points.
Holy Names Head Basketball Coach Emily McKenzie points out how Hopkins’ character separates her from the rest of the pack.
“Genesis is a very interesting person because she’s super mild mannered…. very quiet, super sweet, goes to church every Sunday,” said McKenzie. “But then she’s able to come on the court and be really fierce, super strong, and an amazing basketball player.”
“I would say that she’s really under the radar considering she doesn’t have a social media platform,” says McKenzie. “We don’t have photographers following her around. She just loves the game and plays the game.”
One of the things about Hopkins, who has a 4.16 GPA, that makes her special is that she works just as hard on the court as she does in the classroom.
“I think one of the most important parts about her is that she is getting better. It’s almost every year in every game she’s improving,” says McKenzie. “If there’s something she struggles with, she tries to get better.”
“She’s spent a lot of time under the radar, so the buzz surrounding her is very new,” adds McKenzie. “I think she’s going to get some offers in the postseason based on her film from this year, her stats from this year, and I think she’ll probably end up with 18 points and 11 rebounds a game.”
Not known as a basketball powerhouse, Holy Names has remained competitive in the highly touted Metro League, which makes Hopkins performance on the court even that much more impressive.
Hopkins says her interest in basketball stems from her father, who played basketball in college. According to Hopkins, it was his influence when she was younger that pushed her towards the game.
“I’ve always had a basketball background because my dad played in college, even overseas. My dad really pushed me to do it… I started in 4th or 5th grade,” said Hopkins. “My dad was a coach in middle school, and I sort of played it for fun and then I started to build up to really liking it to the point where I wanted it to be a really big part of my life.”
With aspirations of playing basketball for college in the future, she is still deciding what she would like to do for a major.
“I definitely want to play basketball in college, but I’m terms of what I want to major in, I still haven’t figured that out,” said Hopkins. “I know I have the first two years to figure out what I want to do, but as of now I have no idea what major I want to go into.”
Hopkins had 25 points and 15 rebounds in a 56-53 loss to Bellevue on Monday, she and her Holy Names teammates hope to get back on a winning track this Wednesday against Lakeside (10-1).