JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
Monday column time, and this week, a trip to L-S to catch up with a pair of talented freshmen - the Pioneers’ Kelsey Souders and Katie Andrews, who are already making waves. Talk about bright futures …
When Lampeter-Strasburg held basketball tryouts prior to this season, Kelsey Souders and Katie Andrews just wanted to make the team.
The JV team.
Hey, they are 15-year-old freshmen, after all.
And L-S already had a solid nucleus of players back in the fold, including four junior starters – guards Lisa Boyer and Danielle Rittenhouse and forwards Renee Fritz and Katie Lynch — and a junior sharpshooter off the bench – Jess Manchak – from last season’s 22-win team, which reached the district semifinals and won a game in the state playoffs.
But when the Pioneers broke camp and headed to Columbia to take on Section 1 power Hempfield in the first round of the Crimson Tide’s Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 30, not only were Souders and Andrews in varsity uniforms, but Souders was in the starting lineup, and Andrews was the first guard off the bench.
“I was pretty much freaking out,” Souders said, recalling her first game in an L-S uniform – a 53-45 victory over the Black Knights.
And now 12 games into the Pioneers’ season – and an 11-1 start for L-S, which is tied for the Section 3 lead – Souders and Andrews have firmly established themselves as key cogs in the Pioneers’ high-octane, fun-and-gun attack.
Souders is averaging 7.1 points a game, including a career-best 15 points in a win over Lebanon Catholic on Dec. 11. Andrews, who started three games earlier this season while Rittenhouse was nursing a knee injury, is averaging 4.9 points a game, including back-to-back 11-point games in victories over Conestoga Valley and Lancaster Mennonite.
And both of them have played end-to-end, in-your-face defense – an L-S staple.
Just call them the Pioneers’ fabulous frosh.
“They were both able to step in and contribute right away,” second-year L-S coach Matt Wieand said. “Defensively, they’re both right there. They both play great D. And they’ve both stepped up offensively. They’re both very good all-around players. And they’re gym rats.”
Souders and Andrews were in the gym running with the holdover varsity players last summer in the tough-as-nails Lancaster Catholic Summer League. That was the first inkling that they’d at least make the varsity team coming out of tryouts.
“Coming in, they just wanted to make the team,” Wieand said. “For us, it was just a question of whether they’d make the varsity, or start JV and play a little varsity.
“Early on, during tryouts, I knew right away that they would be varsity players.”
And here they are. Souders has started all 12 games, sharing the point guard duties with Boyer and being a major pest on the defensive end. And Andrews is the first guard off the bench, teaming with Manchak, a reserve small forward, to give L-S an excellent 1-2 punch off the pine.
When it comes to depth, the Pioneers’ have the market cornered.
“Not everyone gets an opportunity like this,” Andrews said. “I’m glad I got the opportunity. And I’m taking advantage of it.”
Ditto for Souders, who gets to start with four of the most recognizable players in the L-L League: Boyer is sixth (14.0 points a game) and Rittenhouse is 24th (10.3) in the league in scoring; Fritz (9.3) is arguably the best shot-blocker in the league; and Lynch (9.3) can crash the boards with the best of them – and then step back and drill a 3-pointer in your face.
“I know I was nervous in the beginning, but they’ve welcomed me and Katie and really made us part of their family,” Souders said. “They’ve been very receptive. They treat me like I’m a junior — like I’m part of their class. So it’s been a lot of fun. I know I’m loving it.”
Same goes for Andrews.
“These are the best players I’ve ever played with,” she said. “And they’re great people. They’ve accepted us into their family and they want to help make us better.”
Souders and Andrews may be freshmen, but their infectious enthusiasm and high energy has made L-S even better.
