All those teams that Maya Bokunewicz helped State College beat over the past four years, all those players she scored nearly 1,500 points against can blame sibling rivalry.
“I’ve been playing basketball since I was 6 or 7. I got started playing pick-up games with my two older brothers (Izaiah and Eli),” Bokunewicz said. “I definitely gained a lot of toughness from that. I learned a lot about grit, as well.
“I just learned to compete.”
Fans who watch Bokunewicz on the hardwood today see a player with a refined skillset. That skillset, though, has its roots in a drive few can match.
“She’s always competing. She definitely wants to win,” Lady Little Lion senior teammate and friend Isabelle Leazier said. “She’s probably the hardest worker I know. Always in the gym. Always working on her academics. Always working on her social life and maintaining relationships.”
Bokunewicz’s storied scholastic career — one that has seen her make the all-state girls’ basketball team, lead State College to the PIAA tournament and get a scholarship to Rice — is winding down. Sometime in the next few weeks, she’ll put on a Lady Little Lion uniform for the last time.
The 6-foot-1 Bokunewicz’s effort and ambition would have served her well in practically any endeavor. It was basketball, though, that stoked her fires hottest, leading to many memories.
She’s hoping she has a few more to make: The Little Lady Lions will play District 8 champion Allderdice at 1 p.m. Saturday at Penn Cambria for the right to be one of 32 teams to participate in the PIAA Class 6A tournament.
“I love being in moments when it’s tied and you need a bucket,” Bokunewicz said. “I like the challenge and just the competition.”
Bokunewicz enters the play-in game averaging 20.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game for the 17-6 Lady Little Lions, shooting 45.1 percent from the floor and 77.8 percent from the foul line. She’s surpassed the 30-point mark several times as a senior.
While one might presume with her height a lot of those shots are close to the basket, they aren’t. Bokunewicz creates a lot of open shots for herself with her dribble starting behind the 3-point line. Then she might spin, pull up or fall away, elevating 12 to 15 feet from the basket and releasing a high-arching shot with a feathery touch that’s almost impossible to defend.
Bokunewicz, who on Friday was named a first-team Mid-Penn Commonwealth All-Star, has made it harder to impress State coach Chris Leazier. He has watched her make the extraordinary almost routine over the past four seasons.
Little she does on the court surprises him.
“I’ve always had a keen awareness for how talented she is,” Coach Leazier said. “Adding a layer of consistently being able to make a 3-point shot has made her really much, much more difficult to guard.”
No quarter being given by her older brothers helped Bokunewicz hone the skills that serve her so well today. Her on-the-court development, though, was quite a family affair.
Being taller than many of the other girls could have resulted in Bokunewicz playing close to the basket. It took foresight from her dad, Rob, to keep the wheels rolling to put her in the position she’s in today.
“He was pretty instrumental in establishing good ball-handling skills from the get-go,” Bokunewicz said. “He could see I had good court vision, so he wanted to put me at a position where I could succeed in that role.”
Undoubtedly, she has. Bokunewicz was courted by a number of college programs on the East Coast — mostly Atlantic 10 and Ivy League — but she chose the outlier, Rice, in Houston.
She’ll study biology with the goal to become a surgeon. She’s already working to become a certified nurse’s aide.
“I wanted to attend a really high-level academic institution, and I also wanted to compete against some of the top players in the country. Rice is a great school, and it’s also top competition for basketball,” Bokunewicz said.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s basketball or class ranking or employment, Bokunewicz strives to be the best.
“Everything’s so competitive right now,” Bokunewicz said. “I think I can take my drive from basketball and let it carry over.”
Competition always has attracted Bokunewicz, but perhaps not in the way a lot of people might think.
She sees things in broader terms. She’s not just out there trying to be better than everyone else. Bokunewicz is trying to be a better her than she was the day before. She wants those with whom she’s working to be successful, understanding success isn’t always just an individual pursuit.
“She’s always the first to congratulate you or to be there for you. It’s not just on the basketball court. In life, in school when you get a good grade, she’s always there,” said Isabelle Leazier, a second-team Mid-Penn Commonwealth All-Star. “She wants to make everyone around her better and make herself better every day.”
“I think I am hardest on myself,” Bokunewicz said. “My parents, my coaches, I want them to be hard on me. I know the potential that I have. I know what people have told me. So I push myself to be the best in every part of life.
“But especially basketball.”
