Class A Preview: Crusaderette Lott’s wait is nearly over

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parkersburg Catholic senior point guard [player_tooltip player_id='722013' first='Sophie' last='Lott'] has done her waiting to return to the basketball court.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>12 months of it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>52 weeks of it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>365 days of it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>8,760 hours of it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>525,600 minutes of it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>31,536,000 seconds of it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Condemned to the sidelines because of an ACL and meniscus tear, her wait has been a mix of torture, melancholia, grief, happiness, learning and plenty of tears.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In fact, she's been away from the hardwood for the longest time she's ever been away from the cage in her life.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Forced to endure an enhanced and aggressive rehabilitation process, she's suffered too much pain.<br>Presented with the difficulty of the exercises, she's swore in her head “way too much.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's waited on the bench.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's waited in the stands.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's waited with her surgically repaired knee strapped to a continuous passive motion machine for up to 8 hours, daily.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She watched her team with hopelessness.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's provided “the best support she can” to her Catholic teammates.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>She's developed a stronger bond with those same teammates.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Stuck in the middle of her recovery, she's missed basketball, especially when she's seen her teammates play on the beautiful Parkersburg Catholic basketball court.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Before the injury, Lott was chomping at the bit to share her Parkersburg High School state tournament experience with a Parkersburg Catholic team returning to the court after a brief one-year hiatus.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blessed with an influx of players, PC head coach Bob Carr's Crusaderettes were going to be a tough bunch of kids. Her injury led to chaos as many players played out of position during the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleared to resume basketball activity on Aug. 22, she is now more excited to share with her teammates that the journey is the best part.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“You have to be in love with the process and if you're not, it is really hard to get there (to Charleston),” she said. “They need to fall in love with the work, the practice, and put all their motivation and effort into that every day and keep building on it. That is how you get down to the state tournament.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Penned in at point guard, Lott will certainly have her chance to lead from both a do-as-I-do and vocal approach. She will be trusted to pioneer the offense and steer the ship on defense. There may even be additional offensive pressure on the senior, as she possesses the Class AAAA state tournament experience.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lott joins a team fresh off an appearance in the regional tournament. The Crusaderettes bring back three starters from the group that lost to the Ritchie County Rebels by 10 points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The loss was particularly painful because the Crusaderettes had beaten the Rebels twice in the regular season. Lott “could do nothing but support her team from the sidelines and help tell them what to do in the game.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the Crusaderettes residing in Class A's Region I, those same Rebels, along with a loaded and defending Class A state champion St. Marys group, likely will be the biggest roadblocks in their quest to return to the state tournament since they won the Class A state title in 2022.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's all adding up to a player who knows exactly what she can bring to the court and more motivation for the upcoming season than she can remember throughout her entire basketball journey.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“After the loss to Ritchie County, everyone was upset,” she said. “It is my last year in high school basketball, and there is a lot more motivation knowing that I only have one more year left to get to the state tournament,” she said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->