Norwin grad Alyssa Laukus already showing promise as freshman with Chatham women's basketball

Chatham women’s basketball coach David Saur has been at his craft for 15 years and has coached at all three NCAA levels. In that time, he hasn’t had a team like the one he has this season: all freshmen and sophomores.

But the early results have shown this group will be no pushover in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

The youthful Cougars went into the holiday break 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the PAC, including hanging 99 points on Geneva on Nov. 22. In that game, one of Saur’s prize freshmen, Norwin grad Alyssa Laukus, had 18 points, five rebounds, a block and a steal in only 23 minutes of action.

In a season that likely will be full of surprises, Laukus, a 5-foot-11 forward, won’t be one of them. At least not as far as Saur is concerned.

“The minute I watched her get up and down the court (in high school) … I was like, ‘This is a no-brainer. I hope to God we can get her,’ “ Saur said. “She was a ready-made college player as a senior in high school.”

Nothing he has seen has changed his mind.

“Everything she does, she makes look effortless,” he said. “And the other unique thing about her that is very, very rare is she can literally go play 40 minutes in a game, and the level of effectiveness she can perform at for an entire game is unmatched.”

Added Laukus: “I feel like I’ve started to find my place, fitting in well. I’ve done well in a few games, so that has encouraged me to work hard to keep that up. I feel like I am on the path to finding my role on the team.”

The Cougars were tested early, facing Washington & Jefferson in just their third PAC game. The Presidents were an NCAA Tournament team last season and, with the bulk of their roster returning, are favorites to repeat as PAC champions.

Perhaps surprisingly, Chatham gave the Presidents all they could handle. The Cougars stayed in the game, trailing by only six midway through the fourth quarter before W&J got a bit of breathing room and came away with a 60-50 victory.

Laukus had only four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes — she did have two blocks — but Saur said her effort against the Presidents’ post players wasn’t reflected in the box score.

“Playing against the size they have and the experience they have in that position, she did a really nice job,” he said. “Didn’t score a lot of points, but, defensively … we’re not a big team. We’re four guards, we shoot the three and we get up and down and press all game. So she had a big, important matchup inside with some of their big-time kids and did a really good job. She really held her own defensively.”

Against traditional PAC power Saint Vincent on Dec. 7, she had 17 points and seven rebounds.

She followed that Dec. 10 with 14 points and seven rebounds in a nonconference win over Wooster.

Laukus is averaging 9.9 points and 5.2 rebounds. And she has been efficient, shooting 59.7% from the field, which would lead the PAC — by a wide margin — if she had enough attempts. She also is tied for the team lead with 10 blocks, ranking eighth in the PAC at 1.1 per game.

Of course, Saur expects Laukus’ numbers to increase the more experience she gets. Laukus, too, already has figured out what she needs to do to be a bigger contributor.

“My length and my athleticism is a good asset to the defense we play and the speed our team plays at,” she said. “Looking to score more is something I would like to do for myself. Sometimes I’m looking to pass more than I look to score for myself. I feel like I’ve always been more of a pass-first kind of person.

“I’ve been working on finishing around the rim, which is something, in my position, I need to be able to do. I’ve also been working on a mid-range shot so I can expand my range a little bit.”

Laukus has plenty of time to improve and has plenty of ceiling in which to do it. Saur said she already has the ability to impact a game at both ends of the floor. Now it’s just a matter of gaining some confidence and experience to do it on a consistent basis.

Down the road, Saur said it is easy to envision Laukus as a consistent double-double performer and as an all-conference player.

Not unlike her team, Laukus will continue to learn and grow. Though looking ahead is not something teams are in the habit of doing, Laukus said she can see a time the Cougars will contend for a PAC championship. Perhaps sooner rather than later.

“I feel like being able to hang in with a team like W&J as young as we are definitely boosted our confidence a lot,” she said. “It showed us that we can do it since we were so close to them. We can beat almost anybody. We have the skill. We just need the experience to come along with it.

“I feel like as we all get a little bit more college experience, we’re going to get better as a team and be able to play well at the end of the season.”