Girls basketball: Kadie Fleming joins her mom as South Hunterdon 1,000-point scorer

When South Hunterdon High School junior girls basketball star Kadie Fleming reached the 1,000-point scoring milestone last Thursday during the Eagles home victory over Koinonia Academy, it marked the 13th time in school history an Eagle reached the mark, and just the sixth time a girls basketball player had accomplished the feat.

But for Fleming, what made the achievement even more special wasn’t only that her name would be added to the banner that hangs in the school’s gym, it meant her name would be listed along with her mother’s, who reached the same milestone 33 years ago.

Fleming is the daughter of former Eagles star Tuesdee Sneddon, who reached the millennial mark as a senior in 1991, and whose 1,248 career points ranks third on the South Hunterdon girls all-time scoring list.

“Obviously, she’s my biggest role model,” Fleming said. “It’s been my dream since I was little to be up on the banner with her. Even just hearing both of our names on the loud speaker when they were announcing who else was on the banner during the ceremony was surreal. It was just so special.”

Fleming comes from a basketball family. Her mother went on to play college ball at Moravian, a school that has shown interest in Fleming and whose head coach was at the game Thursday. Her father, Bob Fleming, is a coach and a high school basketball referee, who coached his daughters as they were coming up, including his two eldest, who also played at South Hunterdon.

Her mother’s role has been as Fleming’s biggest fan, never missing a game, whether at South or during her AAU tournaments as far as Kentucky.

But despite being raised on the game, Fleming, who also plays goalkeeper for the soccer team, had her doubts about continuing her basketball career, even quitting AAU last fall. But she stuck with it, turned her mindset around, she said, and trained hard all summer. And she credits first-year South Hunterdon head coach Kelly O’Connell with helping her gain the confidence that’s elevated her game from role players to star.

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Fleming is one of only two returning starters for an Eagles squad that graduated five seniors and has just 16 players in the program. But after serving as just a piece the past two years, notching just 9.8 points per game to go with 7.5 rebounds, the 6-foot-1 junior has become the main cog, tallying 21.1 points to go with 7 boards this winter.

“Our new coach, Coach Kelly, I love her,” said Fleming, who began the season with 499 points, but enters Thursday’s start-tournament meeting with Keansburg with 527 so far this year, putting her at 1,026 for her career. “She’s got me back into everything, and now I’m starting to look at colleges to play for. She said she believed I could get my thousandth this year, and, honestly, I just laughed. “I thought that was crazy and didn’t think it was possible.”

“She shrugged it off,” O’Connell said. “She said, ‘Oh. I’m not even sure I’ll ever reach (1,000). It’s been on that wall and I’ve looked at it for as long as I’ve been in the school district. I’ve looked at it for three years and I’ve wanted it, but I don’t think it’s attainable.’

“She really took control. Every day she got stronger and worked a little bit harder, and she really just wanted it and kept going with it. She got on a roll and there was nothing stopping her.”

What’s made things ever more challenging – and impressive – is Fleming has been playing on a stress fracture in her foot for the better part of the past month. She wears a boot all day, but never misses a practice, although she only goes hard in games and her coach has made some defensive adjustments to keep her running up and down the court at a minimum.

“I’m one of the two captains, so I’ve really been pushing through it,” Fleming said. "It’s been challenging having to play through the pain and keeping a good attitude, because I feel if my attitude drops, the whole team’s attitude will drop. So, I try and show up for everybody else.”

Last Thursday morning, 10 points away from 1,000, Fleming went up to her family’s attic and brought down her mother’s 1,000-point ball. She said her mom was kind of embarrassed that ball was brought to the game, but Fleming’s biggest fan was happy to share in the moment, even taking some photos with the two milestone balls.

“She’s so proud of me.,” Fleming said. “I asked her the other day if she would be mad if I (passed) her scoring total, and she said that’s exactly what she wants. She said she wants nothing more than for me to do it and be awesome.”

Staff writer Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997. He can be reached at CNGirlsHoops@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter/X @SimeonPincus

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Girls basketball: So. Hunterdon star joins mom as 1,000-point scorer