Charles Nailen/The Hoya In four years on the Hilltop, Rebekkah Brunson became the first women’s basketball player in Georgetown history to grab more than 1,000 boards.

The basketball glanced off the side of the rim and flew off to the left side of the court. It looked as though the crowd of Virginia Tech players in the corner had a lock on the ball, scrambling to the far side of the court.

They were quickly dispersed when a leaping figure in gray and blue reached out, grabbed the ball in midair and came down to the floor with a loud thud. The crowd cheered enthusiastically for the display.

Sitting courtside, the scout from the WNBA’s Seattle Storm arched her eyebrows, leaned over to the coach of the Washington ystics and whispered, “Now, she can rebound.”

For four years, Rebekkah Brunson (COL ’04) has provided Georgetown with a steady supply of “eye-popping” rebounds, as Head Coach Pat Knapp calls them. The 6-foot-3 forward has racked up enough boards to become the program’s first player to pull down over 1,000 rebounds.

Add that to the 1,762 points she scored off drives and well-timed passes, and you have one of the best players in the Big East, if not the country. She stands at seventh on the all-time scoring list for Hoya men or women and third in rebounding.

Not only has she stood out at Georgetown, but Brunson has also dominated the Big East. She clinched the top-rebounding crown three times in four years and was the first freshman to finish at the head of the rebounding list. A stress fracture hampered her sophomore season and kept her from seeking a clean sweep.

From the moment she started conference competition, she made a name for herself, earning six Rookie of the Week honors, the second highest total in Big East history. When she bowed out from college basketball after Georgetown’s first-round loss in the conference tournament this year, Brunson had not lost her momentum, placing on the All-Big East First Team and capturing the Defensive Player of the Year award. At the end of the year she won a spot on the All-American honorable mention list, the first Georgetown female basketball player to be named to the list.

“She is very explosive and athletic. She takes it to the basket and she is always hungry to improve,” Knapp says, listing some of the qualities that have taken Brunson so far in her young career.

Her play won her some national attention, allowing her to try out for Team USA at the Pan-American Games last summer. She won a spot on the roster, and started every game and led the American delegation in scoring and rebounding. The team powered its way to a silver medal, losing only the title bout.

All of her achievements these past four years were not in vain, and culminated when the Sacramento Monarchs chose her as their first-round pick on Saturday, April 24, in the WNBA draft. She is the second female basketball player from Georgetown to ascend to the professional leagues (Katie Smrcka-Duffy was drafted in the fourth round in 2000, but never played due to injuries) and joins only a handful of women from Georgetown that have jumped to the ranks of professional athletics. But for someone as talented and as focused as Brunson, that was the only logical conclusion.

The connection between Georgetown and Brunson may have never happened at all. She garnered attention as a standout player for her high school in Oxon Hill, Md., home to another Hoya-turned-pro, ike Sweetney. She attracted a host of suitors, but the choice came down to four – Rutgers, Old Dominion, Maryland and Georgetown. She eventually decided to stay local, narrowing the choice to the Hoyas and the Terps, and eventually was persuaded to come to the Hilltop.

“She first came to Georgetown as an AAU player in eighth grade,” Knapp says. “That’s when we first saw her and got friendly with each other, and she came to our summer camp while she was in high school. It wasn’t until her junior year that we really started following her.”

Her freshman year proceeded well as she proved herself as the conference’s top rebounder early on. At the end of the season, she walked away with the Rookie of the Year title over a gaggle of qualified peers. Despite such a smashing debut, Brunson still faced the challenges of any player adjusting to a new level of play.

“Early on, as it is with all freshmen, she learned that it’s a team game and that not everything is about her,” Knapp says. “She was also a very emotional player and had frustration issues.”

Sophomore year still posed a challenge, especially after a leg injury kept her on the bench for nine games in the middle of the season. She was able to bounce back and lead the team in scoring and rebounding.

Junior year saw even more growth as a player, leading to her spectacular senior season, which drew the attention of players, coaches, fans and scouts.

Her Pan-Am performance helped solidify her standing. Any Big East coach could tell you that she would be a senior to watch, and in several postgame interviews they confessed that their players could not outrebound her, that she just wanted more and did what it took to secure the ball.

“The best thing was her rebounding ability, how she could control the boards,” junior guard and teammate Bethany LeSueur says. “It was great how she could get offensive rebound, how I could know that even if I missed a shot the ball would get back into our hands.”

Her senior year held some spectacular moments – she scored 35 points and 22 rebounds against Syracuse in late February for only the third recorded 30-20 game in women’s Big East history. The performance also tied the single-game rebounding record for the Hoyas. She had 16 double-doubles on the season, finishing as the conference’s highest scorer and best rebounder and scored 25 or more points on six separate occasions.

As the year progressed, Brunson’s move to the WNBA became more obvious. While she and Knapp only spoke twice throughout the season about her postseason options, the scouts showed up to games and as the season began to wind down, a slew of new events cropped up.

“Spring was overwhelming to a degree,” Knapp says. “The incredible line of events, meeting with agents, the pre-draft camp.”

Brunson’s selection was an exciting time for Georgetown basketball, “a nice wrap-up to the Brunson story,” as Knapp says. Four years of hard work from Brunson, her teammates and her coaches was rewarded handsomely. The coaches and team hope that her performance in college and later on will reflect back on the program, showing that Georgetown can produce top-notch players.

“We were obviously happy,” LeSueur says. “It was great for the team and great for the university. It gives us bragging rights.”

Knapp admits that she has areas to work on, such as her weaker left hand and her inconsistent free-throw shooting, but believes Brunson can make the transition with some hard work. As for the players, they will miss her dominant presence on-court and her gentle presence off the court.

“Some people see her and are scared, but most people who know her would say she was a big kid, always telling the corniest jokes,” LeSueur says.

Although many students leave after graduation without knowing exactly want they want in life, Brunson has already moved on to the next stage. She has been practicing with the Monarchs in training camp and will hope to see some floor time in the team’s season opener tomorrow night against the Minnesota Lynx.

She may have left her days in blue and gray behind, but Brunson’s legacy will surely last. After a difficult season, watching Brunson on ESPN2 striding to the stage, shaking hands and taking her new uniform was, according to Knapp, “very exciting, a very positive event.”