Newsday's Athlete of the Week is Smithtown West's Catherine Piccininni

Catherine Piccininni carries around a basketball with her at all times. She keeps one in her backpack throughout the day and she even brings one with her on family vacations. She takes any opportunity to practice.

“I always want to play,” Piccininni said. “I’m just in love with the sport.”

Piccininni, now a junior point guard and captain for Smithtown West, began playing basketball when she was just 5-years-old.

“She’s been playing basketball since she could walk,” Smithtown West coach Katie Schroeder said. “She’s been to every basketball camp, everything we’ve ever done since she was little. If there’s basketball to be played, Catherine has been there.”

She joined the varsity squad as a freshman and earned a spot in the starting five. She scored in 18 of their 21 games.

Last season, she averaged seven points per game.

But last Friday, Piccininni had her most significant game yet. She recorded a quadruple-double with a career-high 29 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, and 11 steals in the Bulls’ 75-71 overtime win over Comsewogue in Suffolk IV.

For her efforts, Piccininni is Newsday's Athlete of the Week.

It was a feat that Schroeder hasn’t seen in her 17 years of coaching.

“Catherine just had her hands on everything,” Schroeder said. “I knew she had the 29 points, but when I saw the rest of the stats, I just thought, ‘This is crazy.’ But I wasn’t surprised.”

It wasn’t until later that night that Piccininni even learned of her stat line.

“While the game was happening, I had no idea,” Piccininni said. “I was just focused on doing whatever I could to win the game. My coach told me that night and I was so shocked.”

The Bulls (14-3,  9-2) are having one of their best seasons in recent memory. Schroeder believes it's the team's chemistry and motivation to win that makes this team stand out.

“This is an outstanding group of athletes,” Schroeder said. “They’ve grown up playing sports together, so they have a good understanding of one another. I think sometimes we don’t even recognize our progress, because we just keep getting better and raising the bar.”

Smithtown West hasn’t won a league championship since 2010 and hasn’t won a county title since the modern configuration of Smithtown schools. For the past two seasons, the Bulls have fallen early in the playoffs. But Piccininni said she’s ready to lead her team to a league championship, and hopefully, even farther.

“At the beginning of the season I looked up at the banner hanging in the gym and saw that 2010, and I was just thinking, ‘Wow, that was a long time ago,’ ” Piccininni said. “I told my coach: ‘I think 2025 would look really good up there, and I’m going to help us get it.’ ”