It was just a simple free throw and it made no difference in the game as Baruch already had a crushing 36-point lead against York, but Jessica Duleba made history this past Jan. 30th when she stepped to the line and became the 29th player in school history to score 1000 points.

The reason why the club has become such a hallmark for the program is because of its exclusivity. Since Baruch broke away from City College in 1968 and became an independent college, only 10 women and 19 men have reached 1,000 career points.

With the meteoric rise of the Baruch College basketball program, which includes six straight City University of New York championships on the women’s side and one for the men back in 2000, the membership of the club has almost doubled in the past ten years.

In 2002, 16 players had reached 1,000 points and after the 2013 season, that number has increased to 29. The change is even more remarkable on the women’s side where seven out of the 10 players with 1,000 points or more finished their careers in 2003 or later.

Every single one of these players has their name inscribed on a banner for everyone to see at the ARC Arena, Baruch’s home gym.

Duleba and Monique Salmon both joined the club within the past two seasons. For two teammates to reach 1,000 points would have been unprecedented in the early stages of the program, but not anymore as Baruch keeps attracting talented players who dream of joining the exclusive club.

”When you start your college career, you always hope that you’ll be good enough
to one day have your name on a banner,” said Duleba. ”It’s great to know that you’ve achieved something that will always be remembered. It shows that you’ve left a legacy to be proud of.”

Duleba plays shooting guard and led the team in scoring in her last season with an average of 15 points per game. When Salmon was active, she was the team’s star point guard. It was her job to direct the offense and she was such a skilled passer that she led the entire NCAA in assists in 2011.

The past decade has been nothing short of revolutionary for Baruch basketball and the program has become one of the rising stars of the athletics department. Baruch plays in the CUNY Athletic Conference and every spring, the team competes for the CUNY championship and a chance to advance to the National tournament.

Between 1980, when the first CUNY championship was held, and 1999, Baruch never won a single title. All of that changed in 2000 when the Bearcats won their first championship on the men’s side. But that was nothing compared to the dominance that was in waiting for the women’s side. In 2006, they won a championship and for the next seven years, Baruch won every single season except 2007 when Lehman came out on top.

This year, Baruch women’s basketball went undefeated against all CUNY opponents and was ranked nationally for the first time in school history. The men’s team lost in the CUNY semifinals.

John Neves, the assistant athletics director and head of student services, keeps track of every point scored by every player and knows more about the 1000-points club than anyone. He says the sudden increase is due to the stronger recruiting process and that Baruch has a stronger foundation for basketball due to the new facilities in the Vertical Campus, which were finished in 2001, than it did previously.

“One year during the 90’s, I believe it was 1994-1995, we didn’t even have a women’s basketball team for a year,” he said. “It seems so unbelievable today now that we are so successful and people say “how could you ever have trouble recruiting?” but that was the reality.”

He points to current sophomores Francess Henry, Sheridan Taylor and Iyana Abrams as players who will reach 1000-points in their careers. They currently have 569, 469 and 363 points respectively and as upperclassmen they will get more playing time which improves their scoring chances.

Duleba’s accomplishment was even more astonishing because she did it in only three seasons. Student-athletes are only eligible to play for four years and Duleba, a transfer student from Adrian College in Michigan, used up one of her years at her previous school.

Thanks to dedication and hard work, she was able to reinvent herself as a player and score over 300 points each year in order to reach 1,000 points.

“I was not a scorer until I came to Baruch. I was primarily an inside the three-point line shooter,” Duleba said. “When I first came here we already had a shooter and when she graduated, somebody had to step up and I wanted to fill that role. I wanted to be the player who, if we needed a three-point shot I would make it.”

She spent the next summer in the gym refining her shooting skills and the next year she went from scoring 302 points to 391.

When Duleba was a sophomore, Salmon reached 1000 points in addition to becoming Baruch’s all time leader in assists with 789. Salmon considers passing to her strength, which is why she’s so proud of gaining recognition for her scoring.

“Entering the 1000-points club was an amazing accomplishment for me. I didn’t think I was going to reach 1000 points,” Salmon said. “I am an assist first, shoot later type of player. Never in a million did I think I would achieve this goal I did it and it is one of the greatest accomplishments of my basketball career a Baruch.”

Baruch goes out of its way to honor players such as Duleba and Salmon by orchestrating a small ceremony for them during Senior Day, a home game late in the season where seniors bring their families onto the court at half time and are given flowers.

Players who have joined the 1000-points club get something extra special, a basketball with their name and picture on it along with an inscription of the date they reached the benchmark. For Salmon it was Jan. 4th, 2011 against DeSales University and for Duleba it was Jan. 30th of this year against York College.

Salmon, who graduated two years ago and is currently trying out for the Jamaican basketball team, says the influx of players who reach a 1000 point does not dilute the club, but rather shows the strength of Baruch’s athletics program.

“As more and more names are being placed on that banner, it just shows how well the athletic program is and how great it will be in the future. All the individuals in the club should be proud,” she said.