Deer Lakes grad Reese Hasley improves on the basketball court, with a little help from lacrosse

Deer Lakes grad Reese Hasley went to Grove City to play basketball, but a funny thing happened on the way to Grove City College Arena: She was recruited to the women’s lacrosse team.

On one hand, Hasley’s athletic ability would make her a nice fit for any number of sports. On the other hand, she never had played lacrosse before.

As Hasley explains it, when she arrived at Grove City in August 2022, she started getting to know several of the coaches on campus. One of them happened to be women’s lacrosse coach Cassley Jackowski. Numbers were a little low on the women’s lacrosse team, so Jackowski approached Hasley about the possibility of adding it to basketball.

“She saw something in me that she wanted on her team,” Hasley said. “She went for it, and she got me.”

Hasley played in 14 of the Wolverines’ 19 matches, making 10 starts on defense.

“I feel real comfortable now,” she said. “I have fallen in love with lacrosse, and it has been helpful on the basketball court as well.”

Basketball remains Hasley’s top sports priority, and nine games into her sophomore season, she has shown improvement across the board.

As a freshman, she appeared in 25 of the Wolverines’ 26 games — all off the bench — averaging 13.6 minutes, 2.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists. This season, after a Dec. 12 win against Presidents’ Athletic Conference foe Bethany, Hasley nearly has doubled her average minutes (26.6) and was averaging 7.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists. She has started five of the nine games.

Her highlight was a 20-point, 7-of-11 shooting effort in a victory over Westminster.

Jason Baker took over the coaching job on an interim basis this season, but he had been with the women’s basketball staff for the previous two seasons. He was well aware of what Hasley could contribute.

“Even as a sophomore, Reese is a real catalyst for our team and has a lot of natural leadership abilities that you usually don’t see in sophomores,” he said. “I think she’s a very versatile player.

“She has shown, in the Westminster game, that she can really shoot the basketball. She’s quick off the dribble, and her change of direction has really improved. I also think she has really good vision on the court and has done a good job of finding people when they’re open.”

Quickness was one of the areas Hasley said she worked to improve during the offseason. That, she said, has helped with some of what Baker mentioned are the strengths of her game as well as her defense.

This also is where her lacrosse experience comes in. Hasley said some of the skills she learned in her new sport have translated to the hardwood.

“I think both sports go hand-in-hand for the skill level,” she said. “I play defense on lacrosse, which might be one of the biggest reasons why my defense has improved on the basketball court.”

Another reason for her defense improving has been teammate Mara Polczynski. The junior guard from Norwin has started every game for the Wolverines since she stepped on campus two years ago and usually is directing the GCC offense.

Hasley said she and Polczynski always are on opposite teams when the Wolverines scrimmage in practice, and playing against Polczynski has helped to prepare her for her current expanded role.

“She pushes me every day,” Hasley said. “It’s just an awesome opportunity for us to compete with each other every single day at practice. She’s the best defender on our team.”

The two, at times, are on the court together during games, giving Grove City a formidable defensive duo. Both of them, Baker said, often are assigned to the opponent’s best guards.

In Tuesday’s game against Bethany, Hasley frequently was matched up against the Bison’s Lindsey Garrison, who entered the game averaging 18.3 points. Garrison was held to six points.

Offensively, Hasley still is searching for consistency. While her overall field goal percentage is up slightly from 2022-23 (41.0% from 33.8%), there have been wild fluctuations in performance.

A day after making 7 of 11 shots in the win over Westminster, Hasley was just 1 of 12 against Carnegie Mellon. She made 2 of 7 shots Nov. 15 against Allegheny then responded by making 4 of 5 three days later against Geneva.

Then, in back-to-back games against Saint Vincent and Bethany, she made all six of her field-goal attempts.

Hasley said she has been taking more reps to become a more consistent shooter. In the meantime, she has been able to affect games in other ways on the nights when her offense falters, a quality Baker values.

“There might be days when shots aren’t falling for all of our players, but we want to instill confidence in our players that we want them to take those shots,” Baker said. “I know we certainly don’t want Reese to stop taking shots. But she can help our team in a lot of different ways if her shots aren’t falling.”

Hasley is less concerned about her points and more focused on results. GCC entered the week 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the PAC, and Hasley is hopeful the Wolverines can surprise the competition after they were picked to finish sixth in the PAC preseason poll.

“That’s my main goal for now, just help this team accomplish that goal,” she said.

And whenever GCC’s basketball season ends, it will be off to the lacrosse field for Hasley. Juggling both sports and the academic rigors of Grove City is not for the faint of heart, but Hasley said she has made it work.

“It’s busy, but at the end of the day, it comes down to time management and communication,” she said. “Both of my coaches are very gracious with me playing two sports. (Jackowski) sees that basketball is my No. 1, and she understands that I will be sharing time. And coach Baker understands that, too, that time has to be shared.”