North Catholic standout heading to Richmond

Kylee Lewandowski has never cared much for spiders.

When she sees one at home, she’ll quickly flee in the opposite direction.

“I would completely leave the room, and I would go and have my dad take care of it,” she said, laughing.

Well, a girl that doesn’t like spiders has decided to become one.

Lewandowski will play college basketball for the Richmond Spiders.

One of the top players in the WPIAL, Lewandowski, a 6- foot- 1 senior guard, verbally committed to Richmond on Saturday. She had more than a dozen offers, but said she ultimately picked Richmond over Oregon State, Bucknell

Recruiting notebook

and Fordham.

“Throughout the whole process, I was looking at three things: If the coaching staff really likes me, if the academics are really good, and if it fits my style of play. When I went to Richmond, I knew almost right away it was the place for me,” said Lewandowski, who visited the school in June.

Lewandowski, who lives in Butler, averaged 14.5 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game, and was named first- team all- state her junior season when she helped North Catholic win its third consecutive WPIAL Class 4A title and advance to the PIAA championship game. Lewandowski is an outstanding perimeter shooter ( 39 percent from 3 - point range last season), which she said fits right into Richmond’s system.

“They play like I like to play right now. They spread the floor, shoot a lot of 3s, and everybody is always moving,” she said.

Richmond offered Lewandowski in May, but Spiders’ first- year coach Aaron Roussell has been recruiting her for much longer than that. Roussell was formerly the head coach at Bucknell, and extended Lewandowski an offer to that school last summer.

Richmond was 9- 21 overall last season, including 6- 10 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

North Catholic will now have two Division I- bound seniors in its backcourt this season. Tess Myers, also a first- team all- state performer last season, committed to Duquesne in June.

After falling one win shy of a state title last season, Lewandowski thinks the Trojanettes will get one this season.

“That would be amazing,” she said. “One of my biggest dreams is to win a state title.”

Lewandowski’s father, Joe, is the head men’s basketball coach at Point Park.

Davis adds big offer

While discussing his recruitment one day last year, Gateway football standout Derrick Davis had this to say about potentially getting a scholarship offer from Alabama, a team he said he has been a fan of for a long time.

“It would mean a lot. But I’m not from the South, so I’ve got to earn that one,” Davis said.

Well, Davis did. The SEC power offered Davis when he took an unofficial visit to the school last weekend.

Davis, who is ranked by Rivals. com as one of the top 100 juniors in the country, adds the Crimson Tide offer to an impressive list that includes the likes of Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Davis ( 6 feet 1, 185 pounds) is being recruited by most schools as an outside linebacker, but he’s also one of the top running backs in the WPIAL. As a sophomore, Davis rushed for 1,205 yards, had 20 receptions for 293 yards, and scored 24 touchdowns.

Peters Twp. stars commit

Seniors Josh Casilli and Aidan McCall have been starting for the Peters Township football team since their freshman season. Both made their college commitments last week, albeit for different sports: Casilli will play football at Penn, while McCall will play lacrosse at Lafayette.

Casilli and McCall were both all- conference picks in football their junior seasons, Casilli as a wide receiver and McCall as a defensive back. The two are expected to start at wide receiver and cornerback. Casilli is the top returning receiver in Class 5A after finishing last season with 47 receptions for 877 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Peters Township has never won a WPIAL football title, but is expected to be one of the top teams in Class 5A this season. A WPIAL championship wouldn’t be McCall’s first. He helped the Peters Township lacrosse team win back- to- back titles his freshman and sophomore seasons.