Danielle Lascoe Reaches 1,000 Career Points & Caps Big Week for the Basketball Team
Danielle Lascoe Reaches 1,000 Career Points & Caps Big Week for the Basketball Team By Steve Wilson
In a 66-63 victory over NCAA Division III opponent Spalding University (KY) Midway College senior guard/forward Danielle Lascoe became only the ninth player in team history to score 1,000 points. Lascoe, who joins teammate Ashley Parker (Midway, FL/Amos P. Godby H.S.) in eclipsing the century mark this season, came into the December 5 game needing 10 points, but scored 17 to lead all scorers and help the Eagles to their fourth win in their last five outings. With several members of her family, friends and members of her church in attendance, Lascoe etched her name in Midway basketball history by hitting the front end of a two shot technical foul that had been whistled on Spalding. Thinking of all the friendly faces who witnessed it, she said "it felt like a home game." Lascoe's performance at Spalding earned her KIAC conference Player of the Week honors for December 3-9, marking the second consecutive week and the third time this season a Midway Eagle has been recognized. The win over Spalding pushed Midway's record to 8-4 and the team received six votes in the season's first NAIA top 25 ranking. Having also scored over 1,000 points in her career as a Lady Charger at Jeffersontown High School, Lascoe is no stranger to head-turning performances. She's averaging 13.8 points per game and has been the team's leading scorer on eight occasions with a season high 25 point effort against Olivet Nazarene University (IL) on December 1. Driven by history and work ethic, this scoring milestone is significant to her because her name will be listed among Midway's greatest, specifically Midway graduates Natalie Dial and Tia Garrett, former teammates who played at Midway from 2002 to 2006 and set high standards of excellence on and off the court. Lascoe attributes her success to hard work. "Starting off in AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) ball, I learned a lot of things and worked hard in practice," she said, reflecting on a successful past that's come full circle. Not only did her 1,000th point come in Louisville, where she attended high school, she remembers looking up to former teammates the way current and future Midway Eagles undoubtedly look up to her. And, that's not a bad idea. Admitting that she's a basketball nerd and a prototypical gym rat who loves the game so much, Lascoe revealed that in high school, she would sneak into the gym on game day and play for hours, doing drills and working on her shot before tip-off. When someone would come in, she would hide and then return to the court after they'd left, in many ways, emulating the absolute love of basketball her childhood idol and basketball hall of famer Larry Bird exhibited. "That's how I got to wear #33," Lascoe says proudly of her uniform number. "My best friend's dad was a coach and we would go to the gym or outside and practice moves we'd learned online. Once we practiced a new move out on the court, we'd go back inside, sit down at the computer and learn another one." "She's definitely highly motivated," emphasized Head Coach Timothy Southers. "She'll do what it takes to succeed and then some." She certainly did more than the minimum to find a spot on Midway's roster. In order to attend Midway's open gyms, Lascoe admits to foregoing her senior prom and missing the annual fireworks display "Thunder Over Louisville" which kicks off Derby week celebrations the week before the Run for The Roses at Churchill Downs. Open gyms are traditionally invitation-only recruiting events designed to get potential student-athletes together in an informal setting on campus with Coach Southers and give them an opportunity to play together. Of her college choice, she recalls being "undecided at first, but I talked to Coach Southers and he was different from any coach I'd ever had. He made you want to play hard. You want to score, draw a foul and give him a high five," she said. With that level of intensity, Lascoe believes the team has a chance to win the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship. "We have many talented players. We brought in a lot of players last year (2006) and then we had an even bigger class this year. We work well as a group and a lot of returning players, like Beth Jamison (Taylorsville, KY/Spencer Co. H.S.) have stepped up. She has been huge! We've been close to winning the KIAC before, but we never seem to pull it out. I want to leave with a bang." A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Lascoe's desire to attend Midway extended beyond basketball. A secondary biology major, she liked the small school atmosphere and smaller classes that Midway offers. It doesn't seem that her teaching career will lead her too far from the court, however, as she explained that she believes she would like to coach someday. "She's a great leader, because she's been a great follower. She knows her role and she works hard for this team" said Coach Southers. It wouldn't be a surprise if, in a year or two, a new high school teacher named Coach Lascoe is double-checking gym doors to make sure no one is trying to sneak in for some extra practice. Should she be successful catching any would-be players in a closed gymnasium, there's a good chance she may pull a ball off the rack and join them out on the court. If no one is found already in the gym, there may be a door that is mysteriously left slightly ajar, only enough that a young, basketball-crazy gym rat would notice. Nodding his head in agreement, Coach Southers agrees. "That's the thing about players who truly adore this game. They not only love it, they want to pass it on and give others the chance to get as much from the game as they have."