Kitty Henderson's journey from North Sydney to starring for Columbia University
Australian Kitty Henderson is taking all before her, leading the Columbia University women's basketball program to new heights.
The Columbia University women’s basketball program is in the midst of a golden era, and Australian guard Kitty Henderson is leading the charge.
Photo credit: Columbia University Athletics
Boasting back-to-back Ivy League championships and fresh off the program’s first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season, Henderson has returned for her senior year at Columbia with the Lions.
There’s more responsibility than ever on Henderson’s shoulders and she’s taken it all in her stride. With Columbia’s all-time leading scorer Abbey Hsu graduating, Henderson has the ball in her hands more often this season and the evolution of her game has been on full display. She is reading the game at a high level, taking what the defence gives her and operating efficiently. Whether she’s scoring the ball herself or dishing it to teammates who have more space than ever thanks to Henderson’s offensive exploits, good things are happening for the Lions, who sit at 8-4.
“Obviously I came into this season knowing I needed to score more because we lost our main scorer, and I knew I could do more on that front,” Henderson told The Pick and Roll. “I was thinking more ‘score first, score first’, and now that I'm doing that, teammates are opening up a lot more too, it's so interesting how that works.
“I'm not necessarily looking to pass more, but because I am looking to score people are coming to me and then the pass is open. I think just having that aggressive mentality on offence has been really helpful in terms of scoring but also getting my teammates open. They've been doing a great job of being in the right spots.”
Case in point of Henderson taking advantage of the defence was just yesterday, as she led Columbia to a win over Wagner with a season-high nine assists (and just one turnover), along with 15 points and five rebounds.
Henderson is averaging career-highs in scoring (15.6 per game), assists (5.2), steals (2.2) and field goal percentage (49.7%) and she is one of only six players in the nation averaging at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists per game.
She’s also quickly rising up the Columbia all-time leading charts, currently top ten in points, assists and steals. Those accolades are not something Henderson is actively thinking about, but she does emphasise just how grateful she is to be on this journey and those who have helped her along the way.
“You don't even realise or think about it while you're playing, but when I see those things I'm like, ‘wow, that's really cool’,” she said. “I never thought as a little girl from Australia that I’d come and be able to do that, and I'm super grateful for all the people who have gotten me here and the coaches who have believed in me since day one of freshman year.
“I think it will definitely be something that will hit me after I've graduated.”
Graduating from college wasn’t always on the radar for Henderson, who admitted there were times she wasn’t so sure about moving halfway across the globe to pursue a basketball scholarship. Like many of the rising stars in Australian basketball, the time eventually came to decide whether to stay home or head to the States, and she chose to step outside of her comfort zone.
“I was so in between; at one point I did not think I was going to college at all,” she said. “Australia is absolutely amazing, it's beautiful, it had everything I wanted, but at some stage in high school I was like this is too comfortable, I'm going to be living a very similar life to what I was living from when I was 12 and obviously it was an amazing life, but I just wanted to challenge myself and do something different.
“I was grateful to have a coach that just pushed me really hard in high school and at my local club Manly, and he loved the college system. He always told me how great it was and so he really pushed me to talk to colleges and as a result, I'm here now. I don't think I would have come if it wasn't for people like him, but it was definitely a hard decision because it is huge. I mean you're travelling so far, I didn't know anyone here and it was definitely hard, but I'm so glad I did it because it's definitely changed everything.”
To say it changed everything is not a hyperbole. Now starring for one of the most prestigious colleges in the USA, setting herself up for life on and off the court, Henderson is getting the best of both worlds, playing against the best players in the nation and learning from some of the best academic’s on the planet.
“I've always been someone who's really enjoyed academics, I loved school,” she said. “There is such a good balance in terms of the opportunities that come from the school, the professors are great, and the people here are so clever; you're just surrounded by greatness and it definitely does influence you.”
Another influential figure has been Columbia head coach Megan Griffith. The former Columbia player returned as head coach in 2016 and has taken the program to the next level.
“She has been absolutely pivotal and I have such a good relationship with her,” Henderson said. “She's constantly challenging my leadership on and off the court, making sure that I'm challenging myself outside of basketball, making sure that I'm setting myself up for my future, and I just love the fact that she actually cares about us so much more than just in between the four lines. It's so evident and that was honestly the main reason I came to this school. I knew I had a really special connection with her.
“That was really important to me and all throughout my junior career in Australia I was lucky to have really good coaches that cared about me and that was what I wanted in college as well, and I definitely found that in her. There’s just so many things that she's taught me that I'll carry through my life and I'll have that relationship for my entire life because she's very special to me.”
Now in her fourth year at Columbia, Henderson feels at home, but it wasn’t always that way, as she admitted the initial move from Sydney to New York was understandably daunting.
“I came here and I honestly didn't really know anyone,” she said. “It was hard at first, my first month or two I was crying a lot in my room because I was so homesick.
“I just didn't know what to expect. The school work was really hard when I first got here and then the practice hours were much longer than I was doing in Australia. In saying that, the people here are amazing. The staff are so supportive of me, they knew that I was by myself in a foreign country, so they were really, really cognizant of that and made sure I had a support network built in.
“Now I almost never get homesick, I definitely miss my Mum and my sisters, and my two dogs, but I love it here now!”
Having grown up in Northern Sydney, Henderson credits the Manly Warringah Basketball Association and Basketball New South Wales for playing a huge role in helping her get to where she is today. She looks back fondly on her junior days and highlights how great it is to have so many Australians playing NCAA Division 1 women’s basketball.
“I'm so grateful to Manly because they were just such a good club,” she said. “They put skill development so high up in their priorities from such a young age and it's very evident in how good their girls' teams are. I was working on things that other people definitely weren't working on from a very young age and then Basketball New South Wales took me to so many places where I was able to play against really, really good girls from Australia.
“Many of them are now at college as well. It's really cool to see how everyone kind of collides at college, you see the best of the best from all the different states and I'll read a scout and be like, wait, I know this girl, I literally played her at nationals! There are so many times where I see another Australian and it's just cool to see us all doing well in America.”
The pinnacle of college basketball is the NCAA Tournament, and for the first time in program history, the Lions were a part of the madness last season. Although it ended in heartbreak as Columbia fell to Vanderbilt, 72-68, in the opening game, those are memories Henderson will cherish forever.
“That moment our names got called, it was so special,” she said. “I can't even describe what that felt like. As an Ivy League school, they don't often get at-large bids, so we didn't have much hope honestly - obviously we were all hoping - but it was a very small chance.
“Watching the selection show together and hearing our names called, I think every single person in that room was crying, we were all hugging, it was crazy. It was a really, really fun experience and I think the days coming after that, it's just such delayed gratification. You work so hard the whole year for moments like that and obviously the game didn't turn out exactly how we wanted, but this year I know what to expect.
“None of us knew what to expect, none of us had been there before. I think that was such a valuable experience and it's definitely something I want to carry into this year with new goals and hoping to get there again.”
While her sights are set firmly on returning to the NCAA Tournament and claiming another Ivy League championship, Henderson does hope to return to the WNBL one day, having been a development player with the Sydney Uni Flames in the 2019/20 season.
“I still follow it all the time and I have a few friends that play in it, and I've always thought it'd be a really cool thing to do,” she said. “I have no idea whether I'm going to come back to Australia straight away or if I'm going to stay here, and that's the fun part of life I guess just seeing where it takes you, but 100%, I've always wanted to play in the WNBL, so that'd definitely be something I want to come back and do.”
For now, it’s full steam ahead as Henderson and the Columbia Lions continue the chase for history.