City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The almost unfathomable numbers piled up game after game last season for Senaya Parker.

Every time she stepped on the court for Samuel Fels last winter, there was a chance a 50-point outburst was coming.

Parker’s role has changed during her junior campaign at Audenried. Surrounded by a lot of talent on the reigning Public League champions, she often isn’t the go-to option. Her teammates made sure that changed Wednesday night against Mastery North.

She came in 24 points from the 1,000-point milestone, and her teammates wanted to make sure she got there. In a season-high effort, Parker swooshed throughout two free throws in the fourth quarter of the 74-43 win to hit the 1K mark.

“I knew they were going to feed me,” Parker said. “It wasn’t going to be forced though, but I was going to be one of the main options, which I usually am, but we were just trying to make sure I got there.”

After Parker’s teammates mobbed her on the court she was presented with “1K” balloons, roses and a commemorative ball for the milestone.

She said 1,000 points has been a goal she’s wanted to reach since she was a middle school player after hearing about others reaching the mark.

“I always feared making mistakes, but once I got older and realized you fail if you don’t try I just started trying more and that’s when the scoring started coming into the picture,” Parker said.

How she reached the milestone is somewhat unique. 

The West Philly native started off her high school career at Imhotep, averaging 2.4 ppg off the bench as a freshman on a Public League championship team. When she moved to the Northeast before the start of her sophomore season, she transferred to Samuel Fels.

Parker buoyed a team that didn’t win a game the year prior, averaging 43.1 ppg, scoring 819 points during her sophomore campaign at Fels. She went for 40-or-more points 12 times, including eight outings of 50-or-more points. A 59-point game marked the highest outing of the season.

She thought she might have a shot at 1,000 last season but ran out of games as her team played just 16. 

“That was fun and all last year, but coming into Audenried I was excited that I was going to have help,” Parker said. “I didn’t realize how much they would help me. I was thinking we got Shayla (Smith), I got (Aniyah) Howard. I got some defenders. They’re going to help me do some things around the court, but they helped me overall. They welcomed me as a family and it’s been great. I don’t have to do everything.”

Parker entered the season 143 points away from 1,000. She came into Wednesday as Audenried’s second leading scorer at 10.9 ppg. Her previous season-high was 18 points, which she accomplished twice. Her 18 in Monday’s win against Parkway Northwest put her in position to chase the 1,000-point milestone on Wednesday.

“Going into the game, I was a little nervous because everyone was saying things to me and was pressuring me, but I did meditate in the middle of the court and I just prayed to my grandmother and I felt like she was watching over me,” Parker said. “I felt she was really the reason I accomplished the goal. She was watching over me, and she was with me the whole time.”

Parker and the Rockets are chasing much more than just milestones this season. 

Reigning Public League MVP Shayla Smith and senior Aniyah Howard returned after leading the program to its first league title and state playoff win a season ago. Parker, whose Fels team lost by 43 to Audenried in the PPL playoffs last season, joined the group this season along with Prep Charter transfer Heaven Reese and 6-foot-2 freshman Nasiaah Russell. 

Parker doesn’t have to score 50 points this season for her team to win. She’s the team leader in assists (5.9 apg) and steals (4.3 spg).

“(Coach Kevin Slaughter) always tells me to control the vibes,” Parker said. “I’m the floor general, so I make everything happen. We have scorers. We have different people who do things, but I’m the one who everything goes through.”

The Rockets lost a lopsided contest to Lansdale Catholic in the District 1-4A title game last season and had their run in states end in the second round against Trinity. The goal this season is to go back-to-back in the Pub before winning district and state championships.

It’s a long ways from where the program has gone before, but recent wins over reigning 6A state champion Archbishop Carroll and Inter-Ac power Germantown Academy show it’s not that far out of reach.

“We’re planning on winning all three,” Parker said. “That's what we’re striving for now. … It’s really exciting because when we all talk about it, we all know that’s an achievable goal and none of us have done it before.”