For Rachel Laskody, being a senior is a surreal experience.
“It is such a different feeling being a senior on the court than it has any other year,” she said. “I have so many younger teammates that look up to me when I am out there. There are only two of us seniors out there on the court so we feel that we have a lot of responsibility for what is going on out there.”
Laskody, a 2016 Morgantown High grad, was hoping to follow up on her successful junior season at Fairmont State. She averaged 16.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. She had 31 blocked shots, 31 steals and 53 assists. So far so good, since Laskody is averaging 14.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game through 13 games.
“It was something I had never experienced before,” she said. “I was not much of a scorer through high school and my first two years at Fairmont State, but last year something changed and it was a great feeling being able to accomplish that.”
She scored 33 points against West Virginia State, as well as 27 against Glenville State and Wheeling Jesuit.
“One of my best memories last year was our team win over Glenville State. It was a great feeling beating them so early in the season with my team.”
She was also named an All-MEC Honorable Mention.
“It was a great feeling being recognized, but that isn’t enough for me,” she said. “I want to be even better this year for my team and help us win a lot more games.”
Laskody credits much of the success she had last season to her teammates.
“It was an amazing feeling playing the way I did but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” she said. “They had my back through it all and pushed me to be the best player I could be.”
As a sophomore, Laskody averaged 5.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. She shot 48.7% from the field. She had 19 steals, 15 assists and 11 blocked shots. She reached double figures in five games including scoring a season-high 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for her first double-double against West Virginia State.
“Sophomore year was a rough year for me not only physically because of my injury but also mentally having to sit out and watch,” Laskody said. “It was like a rollercoaster going from starting to not even playing with my injury, then finishing out the season playing again. I was happy with the way my junior season went personally but as a team I wish it would have gone better. We had a lot of potential and I think that will be shown this year.”
Laskody said head coach Stephanie Anderson and teammate Brooke Kurucz helped her become a better player.
“Coach Anderson was always pushing me to become the best player I could be,” she said. “Brooke always told me I was better than I showed everyone and pushed me every day in practice to do more than I was comfortable doing, which in the long run made me a much better player.”
One of Laskody’s favorite memories is taking a team trip to Seneca Rocks.
“We went hiking and spent time hanging around the bonfires at night, it was such a fun trip getting to really bond our team into a family.”
Laskody is now majoring in elementary education.
“I ended up changing my major to Elementary Education last year because it is really what I have always wanted to do,” she said. “So I won’t be graduating this upcoming May but I do plan to be a teacher here in the near future.”
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