Former Upper Dublin standout Stockbower sets NCAA women's basketball record

On Feb. 5, late in a basketball game versus Johns Hopkins, Kathryn Stockbower leapt toward the rim and hauled in a rebound, a regular occurrence during her high-school career at Upper Dublin and in four seasons as a standout force at Swarthmore College.

At this moment, with 4:04 left on the board, Stockbower garnered her 10th rebound of the game, which when combined with her 18 points, moved the Garnet senior into rarified Division III air.

Though Stockbower's team lost the game, the senior captain set a NCAA DIII record with her 80th career double-double, which fittingly came on the home court of the previous record holder, Julie Anderson ('98).

While a brief announcement was made as play continued, it barely registered, something that is true of most of the quiet leader's accomplishments. Against Muhlenberg a gamer earlier, Stockbower broke Heather Kile's school rebound record with her 1,264th board.

 More than a rebounder, Stockbower's inside presence has also helped her amass 1,631 points in 96 games, and she's averaging 15.2 points per game this season, and 12.5 rebounds. To her, this is the biggest difference from her time at Upper Dublin.

"My high school experience was very different than college," she said. "When I came in as a freshman [at Upper Dublin], the team had struggled in previous years, and we sort of had five new players grow together. We were all pretty talented, and I was never the main player on the team. I was a rebounder, and scoring really wasn't my job.

"That was a big change coming to Swarthmore. They needed more scorers, and I filled that role."

The 6-foot collegian thrived, becoming only the second freshman to earn First-Team All-Centennial Conference honors, and eventually one of only three players in the conference to record more than 1,000 points and rebounds.

Her laundry list of collegiate milestones outstretches her time at Upper Dublin, though her Cardinals went to the Elite Eight of the PIAA state tournament in her junior and senior years, and the team was District 1 champ in 2006-07.

Stockbower was also recently named to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-District II First Team by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America - her second appearance on the First Team.

A biology and German studies double major, Stockbower is hoping to secure a fellowship through Fulbright that would allow her to live in Germany and teach English. Playing basketball would be an option there, as well, at least recreationally.

Should that opportunity not pan out, Stocker plans to put her biology degree to use and find a job in a medical lab before studying to become a doctor.

For now, Stockbower has four regular-season games left to pad her impressive totals. She'll finish her career well behind Kile's 1,965 points scored, though they were different players. Kile was a prolific three-point shooter, while Stockbower lived in the paint and laughs at the only long-distance attempt she ever took.

"It was at the end of the half, and there were only five seconds left, so I kind of chucked it," Stockbower said. "It wasn't an actual three-point attempt, where I was at the line and took a set shot. It was a stat-keeping error; they're not supposed to count those as three-point attempts, I guess. That was a fluke."

Nothing else has been.