By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com

Pretty much every team has at least one.
 
A player who antagonizes, annoys or bothers opponents for no particular reason or for a variety of them.
 
On Fairmont State University's women's basketball team that player is, without question, Brooke Kurucz and she knows it.
 
Does it bother her? Not in the slightest.
 
"I came here to win basketball games, not a popularity contest," Kurucz, Fairmont's confident senior guard and leader, said.
 
The fact of the matter, however, is that on her own team Kurucz is respected, loved, held in high regard and likely would win a popularity contest.
 
"She's probably the most confident person I've ever met and it definitely reflects on our team," Lady Falcon junior guard Kamrin Weimer said. "She gives us a lot of energy when she's on the floor.
 
"She plays with a lot of passion and we all respect that. Let's just say if I wasn't on her team I'd hate her, but I am and I love her and the way she plays. She's my best friend."
 
Fairmont State senior forward Rachel Laskody agrees. Laskody and Kurucz had some wars in high school when Kurucz played for Parkersburg and Laskody suited up for Morgantown.
 
"I did not like her one bit in high school," Laskody said with a laugh. "We were enemies. She played then like she does now. She played hard. She has a tendency to antagonize people and honestly I didn't like it. When I found out she was coming to Fairmont I remember my first thought being 'Are you kidding me? No. This is (sarcastic) great. Just great.'
 
"Here, though, it's been a whole different story. She's become my best friend here and I love her to death. We've lived together now for two years and I don't know what I'd do without her. She's different, quirky and unique, but she's so much fun to be around. That's what makes Brooke, Brooke. She's a very passionate player who gives everything she has to help our team be successful. She's a great player, a great leader, a great teammate and just a great person."
 
The daughter of Jim and Desiree Kurucz, Brooke Kurucz was born and raised in Parkersburg. She began playing basketball at a young age and really honed her skills playing in her driveway with her older brother Brady and his friends.
 
"That's really where basketball all started for me," Kurucz. "My brother and his friends would always be outside playing and I always wanted to play with them so bad, but they'd never let me. Then one day when I was either in middle school or a freshman they let me play and I'd play with them all of the time after that. My brother remembers that day too. He told me 'We realized you were good enough to play with us. That's when we let you play.'
 
"They were all two years older than me and that's very likely where I developed my attitude toward the game. I loved proving them wrong and making them mad. We played a lot. We'd get full-court games going in my driveway. My dad would park his truck and shine the headlights on the driveway and we'd play all night. When I wasn't playing with them I'd go to YMCA and play pickup every day after school. I just developed a real passion for the game that has never wavered."
 
Kurucz garnered some sort of Class AAA All-State honors all three years of her prep career at Parkersburg High School and signed with Division I Akron University for the 2016-17 season. She played in 13 games for the Zips and scored 19 points, but following her initial season of college she began to realize she wasn't happy and started to look for a new home.
 
"College basketball was always a goal for me," Kurucz said. "It felt good for me to get the opportunity to play at Akron, but after that first season I just really wanted to go somewhere where I could actually play and contribute immediately. I didn't see the point of sitting for a few years and hoping to play more as a senior.
 
"When I left I think I had about 10 schools contact me, but Fairmont was really the only one I was interested in and responded to. At the time my brother was still in school at WVU (West Virginia University) and we're very close, so being 20 minutes from him and closer to home was appealing to me. I can't really say why I only really considered Fairmont. It felt right. In hindsight it absolutely was the right choice for me. Looking back I just don't think Akron was the right fit for me. At the time I signed there I thought it was, but it wasn't. I really didn't know how unhappy I was there until I got here and became truly happy again."
 
That, though, took a little time for Kurucz to achieve at Fairmont State.
 
"When I got here we had Rachel, who I had played against at Morgantown, Kelli Jo (Harrison), who I played against at GW (George Washington), Josie Daugherty, who I played against at Wheeling Park and Jordan Johnson, who I played against at (Parkersburg) South," Kurucz. "I kinda felt hated. Honestly, I think I was."
 
She was. However, after a preseason trip to Canada to play some exhibition games in early August Kurucz's Fairmont State teammates began to come around.
 
"We practiced for a few weeks before we went to Canada and during that time Brooke was pretty quiet and pretty much stayed to herself," Laskody said. "I mean we'd give her rides and eat dinner together and things like that, but on the actual trip to Canada is where things changed between her and all of us. We all saw the real Brooke and not the player we faced on the floor in high school. Since then things have been completely different."
 
Kurucz says she didn't do anything special other than be herself to win her new teammates over.
 
"I don't think I've ever been on a team where I wasn't liked," she said with a laugh. "At least I don't think so. Now, I'm pretty certain I've played against a few teams who may not like me, but that is what it is.
 
"I'm always going to be me and do what I do both on the court and off of it. I think once everyone realized I was going to play hard, do whatever I could to help us win and support my teammates the opinion of me here changed.
 
"The friendships I've made on this team since I've been here are going to be lifelong ones for me. We just have such a special bond on this team. We support each other 100 percent. They know I'm going to have their backs at all times and I know they're going to have mine. Everybody on this team knows they can call me anytime for anything. It's funny. Sometimes after practice we'll all just hang out, including the coaching staff, sitting on the court and talking. No one wants to leave."
 
Kurucz dropped a career-high 35 points in her first game in a Lady Falcon uniform to help Fairmont defeat Lock Haven 76-62 in the 2017-18 season opener. Seventy-four games later she became the 32nd player in Fairmont State women's basketball history to score 1,000 points in her career when she sank a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining to help her team secure a 71-66 victory over Wheeling University on Jan. 18. She currently has 1,014 points at Fairmont State and 1,033 points for her college career.
 
In addition, Kurucz also has 72 made 3-pointers, 294 rebounds, 147 assists and 93 steals in her career. She's also gone 258-of-326 at the foul line and her current 79.1 free throw percentage ranks fifth in school history.
 
Offensively, Kurucz is tough to defend. She can shoot the three with success, but is also athletic enough to get herself to the rim and finish. She's also a master of taking her defender into the lane and then pulling up for a mid-range jumper. And just for good measure, she's pretty decent at getting herself to the foul line as well.
 
"I feel like part of that I have to give credit to coach Steph (Stephanie Anderson) and the team," Kurucz said. "They completely believe in me. Some of those I go for are probably lost causes, but when you have a team and a coaching staff behind you and supporting you like I do, you feel like you can go for anything and have success. The positivity in our culture on this team is amazing. It's so much easier to play when you have those type of people in your corner."
 
Defensively, Kurucz is sneaky good at taking charges for the Lady Falcons. No player has taken more for the team the last three seasons.
 
"Obviously as a player I like to look for things that get in other people's heads," Kurucz admitted. "Taking charges is one of the best ways to do that. When players are called for a charge they almost seem helpless and the best part is it gets us the ball back without giving up points. It's something I've always done and will continue to do. I take a lot of pride in that."
 
This season Kurucz, who is averaging 12.5 points, has not only had to battle opponents, but a nagging back condition which only allows her to play a few minutes at a time. Through 17 games she's averaging just 20 minutes of action per contest.
 
"It's my senior year so this is it for me," she said. "I have to make the best of what I have left. If I was a sophomore maybe I could rest more or maybe I could have even taken a redshirt, but there's no tomorrow for me. I want to be out there. We're real cautious. The coaching staff is really good with me. They only ask me to give what I can when I can and when I need to come out they get me out.
 
"The great thing is I don't worry about trying to do more than I can. A great thing is we have a team here which is good enough to win games without me. They don't need me to be out there at all times. I'm really just another piece of the puzzle."
 
Both Weimer and Laskody say Kurucz's toughness and overall value to the team can never be questioned.
 
"She does well at dealing with adversity and pushing through and giving us all that she can," Weimer said. "We're all there to help her and support her."
 
"She's such a valuable part of our team," added Laskody. "Unfortunately her time on the court is limited, but just look at how productive she's been in limited minutes.
 
"Everyone has so much respect for her. There's times when I'm on the court and she's not and I kinda feel lost out there because we have played so much together the last few years. She just brings something to the court we need and right now she's giving our team everything she can."
 
First-year Fairmont State head coach Stephanie Anderson, who was the assistant coach for the squad for five years before taking over this season, says Kurucz's contributions to the Lady Falcons have been invaluable.
 
"I instantly connected with Brooke when she came here," Anderson said. "She's genuine and real. That's probably the best way to describe her. You know exactly how she's feeling because she wears her emotions on her sleeve and I respect that.
 
"As a player one of the reasons she's so good is she has a very high basketball IQ. She's grown up watching and playing the game and she's one of those players who makes the people around her better, even me. She's a fun person and she's done a very good job of being a senior leader for us."
 
For Kurucz filling one of the leadership roles on the team was very important.
 
"When Steph got the head coaching job here Rachel and I talked a lot about what we needed to do as seniors and leaders for this team," Kurucz said. "We wanted to set the tone and help her get this program headed in the direction she wants it to go.
 
"Now, we've still got a long way to go to be where I think she wants us to be as a program, but all-in-all I think we've taken a lot of good strides and we've gotten things headed in the right direction. For us to do that for Steph has been super special. We love her to death and would do anything for her. She and I will be lifelong friends too."
 
Away from basketball Kurucz is also a gamer. She enjoys PlayStation and Fortnite and has a secret passion for fishing.
 
"I absolutely love to fish," said Kurucz with a giggle. "My dad took me fishing when I was little and I've been hooked ever since.
 
"Seriously, though, I do really enjoy it. It's nice to get outside and enjoy the quiet. I don't get a lot of quiet in my life because I'm me.
 
"Erin (Danik) and Presley (Tuttle) fish too and from time-to-time I'll take Kamrin, but if we're not catching anything she loses interest quickly. I also have to take the fish off of the hook for her. I took T-Staff (Taylor Stafford) this summer. It was her first time and she caught a huge bass. It was so funny. I made her hold it for a picture, but she insisted on wearing a glove."
 
Kurucz will graduate in May from Fairmont State with a degree in marketing. In the future she noted that she definitely would like to do something with her degree in relation to athletics and preferably basketball. She also isn't ruling out coaching and noted that she's seriously considering starting work on a master's degree and joining the coaching staff of the Lady Falcons next fall.
 
As she heads into the twilight of her playing career Kurucz admits she's starting to experience some bittersweet feelings.
 
"It's hard not to think about my career coming to an end," she said. "My body is telling me to be done, but honestly it's bittersweet. I just love basketball so much that I'm always going to be around it or associated with it in some way.
 
"Will I miss it? Hell yeah, but I've known since high school that the day was coming where I'd have to end my competitive career in this sport. I'm glad I'm doing it here and I'm glad I'm doing it on this team. I still believe we've got a run left in us and I'd love nothing more than to see us make a run at a title in the next few weeks. I mean why not us?
 
"Fairmont, in general, and Fairmont State are so special to me. The relationships I've made with the people here, our fans and the community have been awesome. To have been able to give a little back with my play on the court is the best part for me. When I came here I wanted to have an impact. I just hope I did."
 
You did indeed Brooke Kurucz. You did indeed.