When St. Paul's School for Girls basketball coach Pat Conrad talks to his younger players about skill development, he encourages them to emulate senior shooting guard Sharon Hull.
"Her work ethic is unbelievable," Conrad said. "She is a model for work ethic and offensive skills. She works on her shot and all her basketball skills relentlessly."
Hull, a four-year starter and team co-captain, will play basketball next season at Kenyon College in Ohio. Her career at St. Paul's has been marked by achievement.
Hull became the school's all-time leading scorer in the Gators' 61-58 loss to Annapolis Area Christian School on Jan. 30. She has 1,112 points, which broke the 10-year record of 1.062 set by St. Paul's assistant coach Mercedes Robinson, who played college basketball at Davidson.
"I just thinks it's a testament to my teammates," Hull said. "I don't feel it's an individual award at all. I feel I owe every single one of those points to another kid passing me the ball."
Hull averages 17 points per game to help the Gators earn a 15-9 record and second seed for the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B Conference tournament that started Monday.
That's up from the 15-point average during her junior season.
Hull, 5 feet 9, has scored 20 or more points fives times this winter, including a season-high 24 against Mercy and 23 in a rout of St. Mary's.
"There are people that are more athletic than Sharon, but no one works as hard and is as pure a scorer as Sharon is," Conrad said. "She will hit a shot from anywhere on the court whether it's a three-pointer or any type of mid-range jumper."
Hull, who also averages 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals, scored 14 of her game-high 16 points — including two three pointers — in the second half to help the Gators rally to a 45-43 victory over Maryvale on Feb. 4 in their regular-season finale.
"She can do it all," Maryvale coach Alex Miller said. "She can shoot from the outside and she's not afraid to drive. I have to give her credit. She plays tremendous defense, too."
Conrad agrees.
"Her defense has really come along from last year to this year," Conrad said. "We don't have a lot of height, so often we have to put her on a post player. She definitely frustrates them, foils them, gets steals and allows us to get into transition."
Senior point guard Kaci McNeave, another four-year starter, is often the "kid passing" the ball to Hull. She's a steady, gritty player who averages seven assists and will play basketball next year at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania.
"She is invaluable to us ballhandling-wise," Conrad said. "She doesn't turn the ball over and teams don't pick her pocket. She probably gets more minutes than anyone else on the team because we really need her in there."
Conrad also likes the contributions from four other seniors: guards Alex Wright, Sara Moeller, Quinn Conrad and forward Corinna Vlahoyiannis.
The group is playing well heading into its semifinal playoff game Tuesday against the St. Timothy's-St. Mary's winner. The Gators have won six of their final seven games.
Last year, St. Paul's lost in a semifinal in overtime to Annapolis Area Christian School and Taylor Murray, a 2000-point scorer and University of Kentucky-bound point guard.
"We are finally clicking," Hull said. "We had to get over this mental hurdle, where we were playing teams like St. Johns (Catholic Prep) and AACS. We were with them until the end before losing. We have to find a will to win at the end and we are going to do that."