Zoe Brooks had 12 points and five rebounds against national champion South Carolina at the Final Four. Photo courtesy NC State Athletics 
Saint John Vianney’s Zoe Brooks hosted a camp in Holmdel following her freshman season at North Carolina State. 
Brooks averaged nine points per game in her freshman season, highlighted by a triple-double against Liberty, NC State’s first triple-double in 23 years. Photo courtesy NC State Athletics 
Seventy-five girls attended the camp, getting firsthand pointers from the McDonald’s All-American.
By Rich Chrampanis
HOLMDEL – Zoe Brooks had big moments at Saint John Vianney, from her buzzer beater to beat Hannah Hidalgo and Paul VI to knocking off Long Island Lutheran, the No. 1 team in the country and causing a court storm in Holmdel. Brooks was in the national spotlight as a McDonald’s All-American, but the spotlight got a whole lot bigger after a fantastic freshman season at North Carolina State.
Brooks was named an All-ACC freshman and showed she is a future star in NCAA women’s basketball during the Wolfpack’s run to the Final Four. She had 12 points and five rebounds against undefeated national champion South Carolina with over seven million people watching her shine.
“I never thought that I would be playing here (Holmdel) a couple of months and then a couple of months later, I’m at the Final Four,” Brooks said. “Every year I’m going to be expected to go to the Final Four or farther. So, you know, expectations are definitely high. But as long as we keep working hard, I think that we can win a national championship.”
The growth and popularity of women’s basketball – and Brooks – was front and center in Holmdel when she returned to Saint John Vianney to host a basketball camp. Seventy-five kids came to watch and learn from the soon-to-be sophomore guard at NC State.
“You know, to have all those people support me and want to come out to my camp and just learn from me, it really makes me want to work harder,” Brooks said. “It gives me that confidence. That’s like the confidence I don’t have in myself. I see that they have in me. So that makes me want to work harder.”
A number of Lady Lancers girls basketball coach Dawn Karpell’s Division I products came back to support Zoe’s camp and see the first-hand effect she is having on young players.
“You can just see the kids, their eyes light up when she comes over to talk to them. And I don’t know, it’s just kind of like really fun to see that,” Karpell said. “The other part is she’s a role model and I’m going to tell you, there’s a lot of kids in here that are going to be inspired and learn from what she’s shown them tonight.”
Life after Caitlin Clark – Iowa’s star point guard now in her freshman WNBA season with the Indiana Fever – is bringing new headlines to women’s college basketball. New Jersey has plenty of storylines to add, from Brooks and her high school teammate Madison Saint Rose, who was an All-Ivy pick at Princeton, along with the dynamic duo of Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles at Notre Dame.
“I feel like with the last college class, like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and all those stars, they brought so much attention to basketball and I appreciate them greatly,” Saint Rose said. “So just keep having those same players like Zoe Brooks, there’s me, just to kind of expand, you know, just the different levels of basketball.”
Playing in the ACC and on national TV will be the norm over the next three years, but Brooks will never forget her Saint John Vianney roots and is excited to continue to grow the game in New Jersey and beyond.
“I’m just myself, you know. Nothing’s ever going to change,” Brooks said. “I’m always gonna be me and hopefully inspire younger kids… in the position.”
The article originally appeared in the June 6 – 12, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
