FRANKLINVILLE, N.Y. — Dani Haskell was being her typically even-keeled self.
A night earlier, the Franklinville standout checked off one of the final — and perhaps biggest — individual boxes in her high school basketball career, becoming Western New York’s all-time leading scorer in either gender.
Haskell donned her practice gear and began her pre-practice shooting routine at the far end of the floor. Aside from the handful of teammates who eventually joined her to bask in the accomplishment, you might never have known that the 5-foot-7 senior had just reached a feat of this magnitude.
“One of the great things about (Dani) is she’s very humble,” her coach, Allan Dunlap said, “so for her to earn something like that, there’s never a sense of animosity or jealousy from other people, it’s all a celebration of who she is.”
“After everything that she accomplishes, it’s … listening to the kids talk with her about how awesome it was, how happy they are for her. She creates that atmosphere with the way that she is. People want her to succeed because she’s such a great kid. She’s so good to everybody that anything good that happens to her is celebrated, and rightfully so, because she truly is that kid.”
HERS IS the most well-decorated resume in Big 30 basketball history.
Haskell finished her glittering six-year career with 3,227 points, good for first in WNY and second all-time in New York State. She was the guiding force on a Franklinville team that reached five-straight sectional championship games (with two wins), advanced to a pair of New York State Class D title contests and brought home a state crown in 2019.
She’s won two Big 30 scoring titles. She’s one of only two six-time Big 30 all-stars in any sport, alongside sister Ally, who made it six times in softball. She’s the reigning Western New York Player of the Year.
Most recently, she accomplished another first, going from the only three-time to the lone four-time Martha Altmire Award winner as the Big 30 Player of the Year.
Given how much she’s achieved, and how often those accolades have been cited in these pages, there’s almost nothing left to say about Haskell the player, who’s been scoring in bunches on opponents since her seventh-grade season in 2014-15.
“Any success that Franklinville girls basketball has had in the past six years is linked to her,” said Dunlap, reinforcing that notion. “She’s obviously the best player that I’ve ever coached.”
But basketball, and the calm and calculating way with which she’s dominated it, is only one component to Haskell the person.
“I always talk about her IQ being off the charts and all that, but over the years, she’s become just a tremendous leader, and not just on the court, but in every way — in the hallways at school and certainly in our sports programs. She just sets the example now.
“She’s the example not just for athletic success, but for how to be a great person. She makes Franklinville better just by being in it. She’s just a tremendous kid and a tremendous example for how we should be.”
Haskell had a splendid final season, leading the Panthers to an 18-5 record, a CCAA East I title with a perfect 10-0 mark and to within a last-second 3-pointer of a sectional title in their first year up in Class C.
She continued to score almost at will, leading Section 6 at 31.3 points per game.
But here’s what you probably didn’t know about the star senior: She’s in the top five academically in her class, according to Dunlap, and she was one of only 15 students in Cattaraugus County selected for the BOCES-sponsored New Visions-Health Professions elective program.
“I want to do something in the medical field, so I’m interested in that,” said Haskell, who’s set to continue her playing and academic career at Division I Canisius. “I’m in this New Visions program, and it’s all students who want to go into the medical field. That’s one of my accomplishments that I’m proud of, that I was able to be in that program for my senior year.”
Said Dunlap of Haskell’s exploits off the floor: “She attacks her studies the same way she attacks growing in basketball. That, along with her faith; she’s Christian. She attacks every part of her life the same way she approaches basketball — she’s all-in on everything she does.”
HASKELL, though, has largely set herself apart in basketball, evolving from a Third Team Big 30 all-star selection as a seventh-grader, when she averaged 13 points per game, to one of the top players in the state.
The senior captain was one of six repeat Big 30 all-star selections and one of two 2019-20 choices with three or more nods, alongside Portville’s Karly Welty. Even with more hardware than she can probably store, she was honored to receive an unprecedented fourth Altmire Award.
“It’s really cool,” she said, “especially since there have been so many great players to come through here, obviously. Just being able to be the first one to make it four years in a row is really cool.”
Haskell is well aware of her hallowed place in the history of Franklinville basketball. There’s no state championship, no sectional titles, no .726 winning percentage under Dunlap without her.
And yet, she was quick to describe the last five years as a team effort.
“It’s really cool to be a part of something like that and to be able to lead a team like that,” she said. “Obviously, it wasn’t all me, it was always our team doing everything. So to be able to help lead a team to all those successes is really cool.”
