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Partly Cloudy Merokean sets university’s B-Ball scoring record
Playing in her final game for the Lesley University women’s basketball team, Merrick native Kaitlyn Wechsler needed to score 20 points to become the school’s all-time leading scorer.
She netted 22.
Wechsler, a 21-year-old senior who will graduate in May, accomplished the feat during the New England Collegiate Conference championship game against Daniel Webster College on Feb. 26. Though Lesley University finished the conference in first place with a 13-3 record, the team fell short in the game 62-54. Despite the loss, Wechsler’s legacy was solidified.
“I don’t think it has really sunk in yet,” said Wechsler. “It’s amazing to think about it. I don’t think when I started I would have ever imagined that that’s where I would have been.”
A four-year starter for Lesley, in Cambridge, Mass., Wechsler accumulated 1,471 points during her career. She helped lead the team to two conference championships, tied the school’s single-game point record with 33 and was named to the All-NECC First Team. Additionally, on March 26, Wechsler played in the New England Women’s Basketball Association Senior All-Star Classic, in which New England’s best Division III players compete.
Wechsler began playing travel basketball in fourth grade while attending Park Avenue Elementary School in North Merrick, which is part of the North Bellmore School District. She played in the North-Bellmore North-Merrick Basketball League and the CYO Basketball League at Sacred Heart. She attended Grand Avenue Middle School, and played basketball in high school at Our Lady of Mercy in Syosset.
After graduation, Wechsler said that while she did want to play basketball, her first priority was to find a school that would provide her with a great education, as she wanted to become a teacher.
While searching for schools, she was contacted by Jim Hunt, who coached at Lesley at the time, and he expressed his desire to recruit Wechsler. After visiting Lesley, she decided to enroll. “It just kind of all worked out perfectly because it has the education I wanted and I can play basketball,” she said.
