Erin Waskowiak no longer plays the game that brought her loads of accolades, a state high school championship and a full-ride scholarship to Duquesne University.
A pair of major knee surgeries and a frightening accident that nearly cost her a leg have relegated the former Bishop Canevin girls basketball luminary to the sidelines.
“I don’t play anymore,” Waskowiak said Thursday afternoon, a few hours before a very special ceremony that saw her No. 21 retired and her 2012-13 Crusader team feted for winning the school’s first — and only — PIAA girls basketball championship.
“I can’t play. But if you put a basketball in front of me, I’m definitely going to use it – I’ll shoot it, dribble it, put it between my legs. I just can’t play like I used to.”
And how she could play. Tim Joyce, who coached Waskowiak during her four-year run at Bishop Canevin, said the 5-foot-10 dynamo was simply as good as it gets.
“I’ve been coaching 40-some years and I coached girls for 30 years,” said Joyce. “Overall she was the best player I ever coached.
“She was dynamic. Tall, long arms. She played guard but she could do everything on the basketball floor.”
Waskowiak honed her skills playing amongst the boys in the neighborhood, including her brother and several cousins – all of whom showed her what she called “tough love” on the basketball court.
“It was me against all of them – and they did not take it easy on me,” she said. “They told me, ‘If you want to play, you have to play it like we play it.”
When Waskowiak was asked to describe her game, the first word that came to mind was “shifty.”
“I was quick,” said Waskowiak, who could play anywhere on the floor but settled in at point guard during her senior year at Bishop Canevin. “I enjoyed playing every position. I loved playing the game. It was something that just came naturally to me. And I just stuck with it.”
Joyce first spotted Waskowiak when the Carrick native was playing in grade school for Bishop Leonard/St. Mary of the Mount.
“I was very impressed with her,” said Joyce, now an assistant with the West Allegheny boys team. “We were very fortunate she came to (Bishop) Canevin. We had a really good program and she helped us get over the top.”
Indeed, during Waskowiak’s junior year, she averaged 20.4 points per game and the Crusaders advanced to the WPIAL title game, where they lost to nemesis Seton-LaSalle. The following year, Bishop Canevin lost twice to the Rebels during the regular season but rebounded to beat them in both the WPIAL championship game and the PIAA semifinals.
Joyce recalled that Waskowiak didn’t score her usual bushel full of points in the team’s victorious WPIAL title game. “But she played the best game I ever had a kid play,” he said. “She controlled the game.”
That vaulted the Crusaders into the PIAA playoffs, and their run ended with a historic 45-38 victory over York Catholic in the Class AA championship game. Bishop Canevin trailed by five points heading into the final quarter of that game but scored the first 13 points of that quarter and ultimately outscored York Catholic 17-5 to win going away.
“We fell short in the beginning,” Waskowiak told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Brad Everett after the game, “but once the fourth quarter came, we knew we had to win this game.”
Joyce, who could not attend Thursday night’s ceremony honoring Waskowiak and her 2012-13 teammates because he had to coach a game, called Waskowiak a “special player” and that squad “a special team.”
“They got it in their mind they were not going to lose anymore,” he said. “They were a tremendous defensive team and for those three seniors – Carly Forse, Celina DiPietro and Erin – it was a very fitting ending.”
Waskowiak was a first-team All-PIAA selection that year and finished her career with nearly 1,900 points. A four-year starter at Bishop Canevin, the Crusaders went 89-23 during her time there.
Waskowiak’s exploits at Bishop Canevin caught the eye of Dan Burt, who was then an assistant coach at Duquesne.
“Erin was an outstanding player,” said Burt, who was elevated to the head coaching position prior to Waskowiak’s freshman year when Suzie McConnell-Serio left to become the coach at Pitt. “She was a legitimate 5-10 point guard. I first saw her when she was a junior in high school and I just knew then, with her speed and athleticism and control of the ball, she would be a very high-level basketball player.”
Burt, who was scheduled to attend Thursday night’s ceremony with several other folks from Duquesne, said Waskowiak’s game was similar to that of former NBA point guard Jason Williams, whose highlight-reel ball handling and passing set him apart from his peers during the late 1990s and into the 2000s.
“She had a flair that was similar to ‘White Chocolate,’” Burt said, using the colorful Williams’ nickname. “She had a very similar game – and a very similar amount of tattoos.”
Unfortunately, Waskowiak never got the opportunity to put her full array of skills on display while at the Bluff. A serious accident early in her freshman year resulted in a major leg injury that wiped out that season. She then missed her entire sophomore season with a knee injury and managed to play only one game her senior year before another injury sidelined her. She did appear in eight games during her junior season and hit a 3-pointer against Seton Hall in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
That shot helped Duquesne set a record for the most points (89) of any first-time NCAA tournament participant – men or women.
Burt said it was unfortunate that Waskowiak had her collegiate career derailed by injury because people were deprived the chance of seeing her at her peak.
“She’s one of the most talented players we’ve had in my 19 years at Duquesne – and I wish we could have seen the full breadth of her talent,” said Burt, who noted that Waskowiak was recruited by multiple Big East and ACC programs coming out of Bishop Canevin.
“But she gave us everything she had, not only on the basketball court but also in the classroom. She never missed a tutoring session.”
Joyce agreed that it was unfortunate that Waskowiak was beset by so many injuries during her time at Duquesne. “She was never healthy there,” he said. “But she persevered. Give Dan Burt all the credit in the world for that. He really took care of her and honored her scholarship when she couldn’t play.”
Burt said that while Waskowiak was at Duquesne, she was very close to Kevin Deitrick, an administrator “who helped (Waskowiak) immensely navigate the academic world in college.”
Burt said that Waskowiak, who earned her degree as a criminal justice major, had an impact on her teammates whether she was injured or on the floor playing.
“She was a gritty, hard-nose, really tough kid. She really represented what Carrick is – blue collar, tough, gritty people. When I think of Carrick, I think of Turner’s Tea and Erin Waskowiak.”
Waskowiak said she feels like her injuries “robbed” her to a degree. “I could have gone a lot further than what I did,” she said. “But I’m a true believer that everything happens for a reason.”
She admitted there were times she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue playing.
“I hated sitting on the bench,” she said. “It upset me — that was something I never did my entire life. I was always on the court. But I sucked it up and did the best I could to finish at Duquesne.”
Waskowiak said Burt deserves “a big shout-out” for sticking by her throughout all her injuries.
“He could have taken my scholarship,” she said. “But he believed in me and let me play. That’s something I will always be grateful for. I’m happy I did get my diploma.”
Waskowiak said she keeps in touch with Burt and the two occasionally will grab breakfast together.
“He’s like a dad for me,” she said. “Even before I knew I was going to Duquesne, I would talk with him closely. He was the right guy. I knew my place was there because of him.”
Waskowiak said she was very excited to learn a couple months ago that current Bishop Canevin girls coach Rob Travis was planning to honor the 2012-13 state championship team.
“I’m more than honored to be accepting this,” she said. I couldn’t wait for this day to happen.”
Waskowiak acknowledged that she was a little nervous – and likely would get a bit emotional – to see her jersey No. 21 retired. A big reason for that is that she lost her mother, Kelli, two years ago.
“She was a big reason why I played there,” she said of her late mother. “She was my biggest fan.”
Waskowiak spent time as an assistant coach at Montour and said there might come a time when she wants to get involved with coaching again. But that time isn’t right right now.
“It’s something I’ve thought about here and there,” said Waskowiak, who works in school security at Allderdice High School. “After my mom passed away, I needed a break. I didn’t want to go into something if I knew my mind was not set.
“Losing my mother was one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with. And coaching and being around kids, you have to have your mind right.
“When the time comes, it’ll come. I just don’t know when that will be.”
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