It would be difficult for anyone to find any faults in Mariel Ruiz’s game with the way the senior guard has played this season for Kearny.
Eventually Ruiz’s head coach, Jody Hill ,did find one flaw in her game, sort of.
“She brings so much to the table. Sometimes she’s too unselfish, but in a good way,” Hill said. “She knows the importance of team ball and the more players we have contributing , the harder we are to guard. She’s all about team first.
“Not only is she playing so well, but she’s really making all the players around her so much better too.”
On Saturday morning at Memorial of West New York, Ruiz was honored by her teammates, family and friends when she became just the 13 Kearny girls to score 1,000 points when she made a layup in the first minute of the Kardinals’ 60-13 blowout win.
Ruiz finished with 10 points, which was actually her season low, but made her presence felt in additional ways, adding six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The milestone, as well as her play throughout the season makes Ruiz The Observer Athlete of the Week.
Incredibly, Ruiz is the second Kardinal to score her 1,000th point in a span of 19 days, joining fellow guard Makayla David who did it on Jan. 13.
“Being able to score 1,000 points means a lot to me and becoming the first one out of all my siblings to achieve this goal feels unreal,” said Ruiz, who had about 20 family members in attendance on Saturday. “To see my progress from a freshman to now a senior means so much to me and it will only continue to grow in college.”
“Mariel is the toughest one on the floor and she comes with this swagger about herself and the confidence is always there,” said Hill. “She has the toughness, she has the grit and now her skill level has improved so much that she is the full package.”
During her four years at Kearny, Ruiz has seen her scoring average go from 3.0 points per game as a freshman to 7.9 as a sophomore, 13.9 as a junior and now, 17.6 this season.
The 5-foot-4 Ruiz is on pace to set career highs in virtually every statistical category this season and she currently leads Kearny in points, 3-pointers (47) and assists (4.4 per game). Ruiz is also averaging 6.6 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.
“When you go against the same schools for four years you can get pretty familiar with a player. That’s why it was so important to me to expand my game more and more over the years,” Ruiz said. “I did not want one area of my game to be my ‘weak’ spot.
“People only used to notice me because of my 3-pointers, which I appreciated, but I knew I could excel in different aspects of the game. I worked on my defense, worked on my weak hand, and I learned to drive in more and look for my open teammates.”
This past Thursday against Bayonne, Ruiz showed why several local Division II and Division III colleges are interested in her. Ruiz made a career-high six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points and seven rebounds as Kearny stood toe-to-toe with the five-time defending Hudson County champions until the Bees pulled away late in the fourth quarter.
This season has also seen Ruiz score a career-high 29 points against Colonia, record her first career triple-double when she had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a win over North Star Academy.
“We couldn’t be happier with Mariel’s growth from her freshman year until her senior year,” said Hill. “She just doesn’t stop getting better and every season you just see something different out of her.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)