‘She’s on roll’
Severna Park’s Ryn Feemster named Player of the Year
Ryn Feemster finally believed she could play basketball after dropping 21 points on Old Mill in the first half. She could’ve stuck around and gone after records, but she left for her All-State soccer banquet.
“Typical multi-sport athlete out there,” Severna Park coach Kris Dean said. “She’s on a roll; she’s going to kill a school record, but she had to go to a state soccer thing where she won all these awards.”
Truthfully, Feemster had no intention to leave her team if they needed her, but the Falcons planned to pull her along with the other starters.
Six points shy of the school scoring mark that day — and three short on a later date — Feemster’s name won’t end up on a Severna
Park school record banner for basketball.
But the impact that performance had on the three-sport heroine rippled directly to the Class 3A playoffs.
“Like, maybe I’m doing something right in this,” she said.
Her 20-point, 10-rebound clinic Feemster unleashed in the fourth quarter and three overtimes of the Class 3A South II Region final saved Severna Park (22-3) against county champion South River, capped off a dominant season against the county and secured her spot as the Capital Gazette 2023-24 girls basketball Player of the Year.
The Capital Gazette girls soccer Player of the Year in the fall and a VCU lacrosse commit, Feemster is not the typical pick. She always viewed basketball as a kick back in between her two stressful jobs. She couldn’t name a time she laced up her basketball sneakers off a school court. The senior never considered college basketball for herself.
Dean had known he’d recruit the quickly-growing athlete when he met her in seventh grade, having no doubt she’d make varsity. The pandemic swiped her freshman basketball season and stunted her development, and yet, Dean plugged in his newbie sophomore in at point guard. Soccer and lacrosse graced her with athleticism; the position honed her dribbling and she soon began starting. By junior year, the Falcons possessed enough role players, so Dean transformed Feemster into a Swiss Army knife.
“She grew a lot because we threw her to the wolves, and she didn’t care. She was happy to do it,” Dean said. “Within a year, mentally it was clicking that she could run with anybody.”
When graduation whittled the roster, Dean narrowed Feemster’s job requirements again, but not to running point. She’d grown to 5-foot-10. She knew the 2023-24 county girls basketball climate featured predominantly capable outside shooters, so she made the post her home. She averaged 14.5 points and 7.1 rebounds, recording seven double-doubles against some of the county’s best.
Her journey this season wasn’t without its rocks. The pressures of the second meeting with rival Broadneck on Feb. 2 seeped into her mind and made her pedestrian. The Bruins led by 15 at halftime. Feemster knew she had to clear the self-doubt churning in her mind.
“And then,” she said, “I came alive.”
Feemster returned to the floor to score 23 points and slash Broadneck’s lead to as few as three points. She controlled the space down low and dished out to the teams 3-point shooters.
“It became one of the tools in my tool belt, that game,” Feemster said, “because I wasn’t playing well in that first half. Like South River.”
The Seahawks carried a lead through the first three quarters of the region final. By the the fourth, Feemster returned to the bench with just one point, but four fouls.
But she’d score 19 more without fouling out. Every play on the boards included her, every necessary comeback basket or go-ahead shot.
The actual skills to claw down rebounds or stick putbacks in might’ve come to her only when the trees were bare outside. But enforcing her will in high-pressure playoff situations did not.
“When somebody tries to come by me, I obviously body them. I’m not gonna let them by me without a fight,” Feemster said. “As a defender in lacrosse, you always have your stick on somebody, getting low and trying to force them out. I wasn’t scared to go to the basket.”
When Severna Park did lose her, it couldn’t continue on. Feemster fouled out in the fourth quarter of its first state tournament game against Oxon Hill. The Falcons’ lead crumbled and, soon after, the season ended.
Feemster’s still the reigning 3A soccer champion, as well as lacrosse, in which she has a good chance to repeat. But she’ll never be able to fix basketball.
“But I’ve been in that situation before, with soccer, with lacrosse,” Feemster said. “Then, I really think it’s just the team aspect that makes it okay.”