Photo Courtesy of Capital City Sports

2024-2025 LCS Girls Basketball Preview

by LCS Senior - Trevor Orton

As the winter season comes with snow and sleet in full force, as does the girls basketball season.  Lansing Christian enters this campaign with immense hope and dreams, as they return a majority of their scoring, and add some much needed length and size the program has been needing for quite some time. Girls basketball has always been a tradition at Lansing Christian, tracing back to the early 2000’s with multiple state championship wins and final four appearances, and the Pilgrims look to add to this decorated history in the 2024-25 season, with 6 strong seniors, some decorated juniors, and a handful of very talented sophomores looking to make a mark on varsity.

Led by returning all-conference senior G/F Lydia Brogan, the Pilgrims return a prolific offense that was capable of letting it reign from deep and putting up big numbers every single outing. In addition to the scoring capability of Brogan, scoring threat and all-conference Honorable Mention Ava Mustapah returns to the Pilgrims, as a strong two-way player who can do it on both ends. Alyssa Shank is a junior who is entering her second year running the point for Lansing Christian, and also adds strong perimeter defense and a good capability to move the ball and run the offense and set things up. 

The big room is going to have plenty of success this season, with a lot of added height, as Grace Reusser joins the team, proving some much needed length this squad has been missing for years. Sophia Carillo is also a strong F/C who returns to the lineup for her second year on the varsity, and Esther Lee is fully up from the JV to provide a big post impact for the Pilgrims. Sophie Hazelton is entering her third full year on the varsity and has an electric ability to make big shots whenever needed, and although is currently nursing an injury, hopes to be back on the court by mid-December to help Lansing Christian’s perimeter attack on offense. 

Abbi Pelle is a senior with a lot of experience, who adds depth in the post as well, as well as strong leadership off the court and is a top tier teammate. Juniors Payton Korrey and Juliette Tallon round out the guard room, and provide a lot of quickness on the perimeter, and a sneaky shot making ability. Rounding out the varsity roster is Natalie Adams, a sophomore with a lot of promise who is going to split time between JV and Varsity. Kylie Damesworth and Makenna Bush are fifth quarter players as well, and both have shown strides over the off-season and will look to compete for varsity minutes.

Lansing Christian is in a district hosted by Potterville that also includes Bellevue, Morrice, Webberville, and perennial powerhouse Portland St. Patrick. Entering its second year in the deep CMAC, Lansing Christian will hope to take that next step after a solid showing in its inaugural season, and will compete with Portland St. Patrick, rival Fowler, Pewamo-Westphalia, and an upstart Bath team to climb atop the standings. The Pilgrims are coached by the experienced and steady Jason Sallsbury, who is ramping his squad up for its 12/3 opener against Jackson Christian on the road.