Delayed final season full of challenges for Fleetwood grad Lauren Lister

By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

MILLERSVILLE — At some point in the distant future, the number will look like a misprint. It has to be, right? No one scores 25.5 points per game.

Lauren Lister did. Two years ago, her junior season at Millersville, the Fleetwood grad was at the height of her basketball powers. She was unstoppable. That’s not hyperbole. That was reality.

On Feb. 12, 2020, Lister made 16 field goals and scored 41 points against Shippensburg. She moved past Sara Burcin and became the school’s all-time leading scorer with another year still to play. It was a landmark night. Her greatest night.

Everything changed a few weeks later. Not just for Lister. For the world.

The pandemic meant 20 months without a game. When Lister finally put on the uniform again, she had a new coach, a new system and a roster filled with new faces. It was like she transferred somewhere else.

“I don’t regret anything,” Lister said. “The COVID year was obviously unfortunate. It allowed me to get into the gym and just work on my craft. I’ve just got to continue getting better.”

Lister is trying to make the most of her delayed senior season, the last one she’ll ever play. The 5-8 guard laughs with her teammates, cheers them on and tries to help the four freshmen in the rotation improve. Things haven’t gone perfectly. That much is obvious.

Millersville is 1-9 after falling to Goldey-Beacom 57-50 on New Year’s Eve. The Marauders haven’t won a game for more than seven weeks.

If that’s not bad enough, there are the injuries. Lister suffered a stress fracture in her knee and twice rolled her ankle. Although she hasn’t missed a game, she’s playing fewer minutes and is averaging a more human 11.4 points. 

The fifth year has been trying.

“I feel like a 10th year, honestly,” Lister said. “My body is pretty old. I’ve just got to push through the pain and keep going.”

When you see numbers like Lister produced, you wonder how they’re even possible. Why couldn’t opponents find a way to slow her down? Then you watch her play. Then you understand.

Lister has a knack for getting to the rim. A way to maneuver her body through traffic and turn defenders into pylons. It’s an instinct, a gift, that has come from hours upon hours of practice. Picture Allen Iverson on a Division II college level.

“The moves that she does are in her back pocket,” Millersville coach Sharay Hall said. “She surprises me sometimes with some of the things she comes up with. She’s going to find a way to get the ball in the basket. That’s what she does well.”

Lister is still treated like the PSAC’s top scorer. Defenders harass her in waves. If she beats the first one, another is there to help. If she weaves past that second person, there’s a forward waiting at the rim. Every attempt at a layup is a challenging journey.

There are moments when the frustration peeks through. When she doesn’t get a call she has clearly earned. When a teammate makes an inexperienced mistake. When another lead slips away.

Those are rare. Mostly Lister savors the moments. She shares a smile with fellow senior Atiya McDonald during a timeout or she hops off the bench to celebrate a teammate’s 3-pointer.

“I realize this is my last year,” Lister said. “This is the last time I’m a part of a family and a team. I think about it in that aspect. I also have some individual goals I want to achieve as well. I’m not quite finished yet.”

Lister wants to score 2,000 points. She needs 240 more. She wants to make All-America, even if that seems unlikely at this stage.

Hall said she hasn’t seen the real Lister during the first 10 games. The one on film that caught the coach’s eye after she accepted the job. She has only seen glimpses.

During the fourth quarter against Goldey-Beacom, Lister posted up on the low block, stepped through the inevitable double team and flipped home a layup high off the glass. It was a wow play. No one else on the court could make that play.

“That’s a pro move right there,” someone shouted from the stands.

It was one of those moves Lister keeps in her back pocket. The kind that can melt the frustration away.

“She’ll go down as one of the best to ever wear the Millersville jersey,” Hall said. “She continues to strive for more. She cares about winning. She cares about her teammates. It’s great to have a person like that in the program.”

Regardless of how the final two months unfold in this imperfect season, Lister’s place at Millersville is secure. She’ll always have those numbers. She’ll always be the player who was once unstoppable.