(The St. Louis American celebrates the great career of former East St. Louis Lincoln girls basketball star Tina Hutchinson, who was the National Player of the Year 40 years ago in 1983).
The St. Louis metropolitan area has produced some tremendous talent in girls’ basketball over the decades.
The names of those great players roll of the tongue from Napheesa Collier, Kristin Folkl, Niele Ivey, LaShonda Albert and Sug Sutton and so many more.
But, there was one other play that many people may not know about since she graduated from high school back in 1983. If you followed girls’ basketball back then, you know.
What if I told you that some 40 years ago, there was a young lady on the East Side who was the No. 1 high school player in the country. What if I told you that this young lady was a combination of the best of all those aforementioned players.
And what if I told you that this young lady was the most talented girls’ basketball player to ever lace up the sneakers in the St. Louis metro area.
Finally, what if I told you that if she hadn’t suffered a career-altering knee injury as a sophomore in college, she might have gone on to be recognized as one of the top women’s basketball players. Ever.
The young lady is Tina Hutchinson, who was a superstar player for the East St. Louis Lincoln Tigerettes for legendary coach Ernest Riggins. As a senior in 1983, Hutchinson was selected the National Player of the Year by both USA Today and Parade Magazine. She was a generational talent.
To describe Tina Hutchinson as a player is to talk about somebody who was way before her time. She was a 6’3” whirlwind who had dynamic athleticism along with a versatile skill set that enabled her to excel at all five positions on the court. Tina could do it all. And she did it with style and grace. Hutchinson can handle the ball and shoot from the perimeter like Ivey and Sutton, who were All-American guards. She had LaShonda Albert’s smooth offensive ability, and the height, athleticism and dominance of Folkl and Collier.
When I first saw her play in person, I could not believe what I was seeing. She could snatch down a rebound and dribble the length of the court and either finish with a sweet finger roll at the basket or pull up from 20 feet to swish home a jumper. She had a deadly turnaround jumper inside and she could hit a teammate with a nifty no-look pass. She could dominate defensively inside with her shot blocking or on the perimeter with her quickness and anticipation to play the passing lanes for steals. I thought I was a pretty good player myself, but she was doing things on the court that I could only dream of doing.
Hutchinson finished her prep career by scoring more than 3,000 points. As a senior at Lincoln, she averaged 35 points and 15 rebounds a game while shooting 78 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line. She had one dominant performance against Lindbergh in which she had 50 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, four steals and four blocks.
Hutchinson was recruited by every top collegiate program in the country, but she finally chose San Diego State, where she would play for Riggins, who was named the head coach. She had a freshman season for the record books as she scored a total of 899 points, which is still a NCAA single-season freshman scoring record. She averaged 29.9 points and six steals a game in leading the Aztecs to a 24-6 record and a berth in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
One of the finest moments of Hutchinson’s freshman season was her performance against USC, the eventual NCAA Tournament national champions. Hutchinson went head-to-head with USC All-American Cheryl Miller, who was the queen of women’s basketball at the time. Despite being on the losing end on the scoreboard, Hutchinson scored a game high 41 points in her showdown with Miller, which gained her even more national attention.
Hutchinson’s continued rise to stardom was derailed during her sophomore season when she suffered a serious knee injury. Although she eventually returned to action, she was never the same electrifying player that she was before the injury.
There’s no telling what kind of records that Hutchinson would have set had she stayed healthy for her full four-year collegiate career. That is especially after scoring 900 points as a freshman. What we already do know from what we were able to see from her was that she was truly a special talent.
Tina Hutchinson now lives in Birmingham, AL, where she originally lived before moving to East St. Louis before high school.
Saw her play both her junior, and senior year when Lincoln played in the Duchesne Girls Christmas tournament. To this day, the best female high school basketball player I ever had privilege to watch in person – by far!
The best HS male – Tyler Hansbrough (just ask Floyd Irons about that!)
Without a doubt, Tina was the most prolific player ever in the womens game, both offensively & defensively.I can say this as I recruited her to San Diego State after watching her play in the Missouri state finals during her senior year in East St. Loius. Her NCAA freshmen record of 898 points was achieved at a time when the 3 point play had not been adopted yet, further limited because she only played just shy of 30 minutes/game due to the blowout scores.Her 20 foot deadly perimeter jumpshot was textbook perfect , & still remains unequalled,even with all the great players in the last 40 years.Simply stated,Tina Hutchinson was the epitome of a scoring machine comparable to a Pistol Pete Maravich, with the exception that the” Pistol” was a ballhandling/passing/scoring wizard. What a tragedy that her knee short circuited thousands of others to have had the opportunity to marvel & enjoy such a pure talent, & wonderful human being.