PENDLETON — In the world of recruiting, the best fit for a prospect sometimes is one of the last to make their pitch.
Such was the case for Pendleton Heights basketball standout Adah Hupfer, who made her college decision last week by announcing she will attend Northwestern University after her final season with the Arabians.
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After fielding dozens of offers from D1 schools across the nation, the 6-foot-3 senior forward realized a life-long dream.
“Obviously, it was exciting and a pressure release for July basketball,” Hupfer said. “It checked every box and I’ve always wanted to be a Big Ten kid.”
Hupfer is coming off her biggest individual season for PHHS. She averaged 20.5 points and 13 rebounds per game and led the Arabians to their second consecutive sectional championship. She also became the third member of her family – joining aunts Angie and Megan Hupfer – as 1,000-point scorers during her career and enters her senior year ranked fourth in program history with 1,148 points and needs just 25 rebounds for 1,000 in her career.
Her father, Kyle, also scored over 1,000 points during his collegiate career at Manchester University.
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Northwestern, preparing for its first season under head coach Carla Berube, was a fairly late arrival to the Hupfer sweepstakes. But once the new coaching staff had finalized its roster for the upcoming campaign through the transfer portal the Wildcats were all in on the Arabians star.
“It came together after the May live period,” Hupfer said. “They were trying to figure things out and came in kind of late, but I definitely feel a good relationship.”
Berube closed her Princeton career with a 147-29 record. Her teams were dominant in Ivy League play, going 77-7 against conference foes with a pair of 14-0 finishes during the regular season. Prior Princeton, Berube coached 17 seasons at Tufts University, becoming the program’s all-time leader in wins after finishing with a 384-96 overall record.
Berube, a 1997 Connecticut graduate, scored 1,381 points during her collegiate career, a four-year run that saw the Huskies finish 132-8 and win the program’s first national championship during her sophomore season.
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Carrying a 4.16 grade point average at Pendleton Heights, Hupfer is planning on studying business before attending law school and knows that both are top-10 national programs at Northwestern. With the chance to play in an elite conference while acquiring an equally elite degree, she could hardly turn it down.
“You can’t get a better of both worlds than Northwestern,” she said. “That opportunity is one that was really hard to pass up.”
As strong as Berube’s resume is, it was the atmosphere she curates – and a commitment to success — that drew Hupfer to the Wildcats.
“Going on my official visit, it was genuine,” Hupfer said. “It was so much fun watching them practice, there was so much fun and energy.
“They’ve proven they can win and want to do that in the Big Ten.”
