It has been a career filled with highlights, outstanding plays, and team victories. It’s been a four-year journey marked by personal growth, making others better, and always doing the right things.
But that is not the legacy that Kailah Correa is leaving behind.
From the brink of irrelevance, Correa has returned the Lebanon girls’ basketball program to prominence. Correa has helped shine a light on a Cedar athletic program in desperate need of a positive influence. And she has served her community in a way that has made it a better place to live.
“I’m a good basketball player,” said Correa. “I’m an outgoing kid and the life of the party. I want to help my teammates and get to a championship. I’m a very unselfish player. I’m humble and respectful. I’m just a 17-year-old kid enjoying life. It’s not all about basketball. I’m more than a basketball player. I want to be remembered as a good basketball player, and I want to be remembered as a good person.”
It’s January of the Lebanon High star guards’ senior season, and for better or worse, Correa’s historic career will be coming to an end sometime in the next two months. She knows it but doesn’t like to think about the wheres, the whens, or the hows, so she focuses on the moment.
What’s important to know is that she has no regrets and that her legacy is important to her.
“It’s definitely important to me,” said Correa. “I feel like I’ve left a good impact already. We have so many youths involved in the program and coming to our games. That’s what I wanted to do, have an impact on the program and the youth.
“I remember our first home game of my freshman year, against Governor Mifflin. Just coming out of the tunnel and seeing my community, my family and friends in the stands. It was a big thing for me. I wanted to have the community get behind us. I’m not going to lie; high school feels like it flew by. When I think back, it definitely doesn’t feel like four years.”
“I think the biggest thing she’s done is involve the community in our season,” said Lebanon head coach Jaime Walborn, when asked about the nearly 80 wins the Cedars have produced in Correa’s career. “When she was in the eighth grade, I asked her the regular questions about team and personal goals. Her first answer was, ‘Get people in the stands, and get Lebanon girls’ basketball back to where it was.’”
Elevating programs and uniting communities are things that all of Lebanon County’s great girls’ basketball players did – the Howers, the Bowies, the Munnions, the Schwabs. Correa has cemented her place in local girls’ basketball lore with unparalleled ballhandling skills, a feel and love for the game, and a flair for the dramatic, with 1,799 career points and 321 career assists.
“As far as I can remember, I started playing in the first grade,” said Correa, who has committed to play Division One college basketball at the University of Delaware. “I started taking it seriously in the fifth or sixth grade. Since then, it’s been my reason why. It’s kind of always there. It’s therapeutic. It’s my escape from the real world.
“My mom always says, ‘What are you going to do when the ball stops bouncing?’ I can’t think of that right now. I can’t see my life without it.”
“She hasn’t changed, except for growing up and maturing,” said Walborn. “She’s very humble, very kind, and a little goofy. I think sometimes people are a little intimidated by her skills. But she’s just an easy-going kid.”
But for all the team success – Lebanon has captured three Lancaster-Lebanon section championships during the Correa era – and all the individual accomplishments, the Cedars have yet to reach many of their stated goals outside of section play. They are results that should be considered disappointments, not failures.
“We didn’t get that (Lancaster-Lebanon) league championship,” said Correa. “We didn’t go as far in states (as they may have liked to). That’s the game of basketball. We felt that the last three years. We’re coming hungry this year. We don’t want that feeling again.
“In my freshman and sophomore years, it was definitely hard dealing with outside pressure. My coaches, teammates, and family have definitely helped me with that. It came from outside sources, and I took it on as best I could. But I put a lot of pressure on myself, too.”
“They’re going to talk about her at Lebanon for a long time,” said Walborn. “She’s had such high expectations for herself and from the outside. I think she’s handled it very well. She always did what we asked her to do. She always gives 100 percent, and she’s coachable and humble. She knows she still has a lot to learn.”
While it may be difficult to see from the outside, Correa has grown from a wide-eyed kid into a young adult preparing for the next chapter, during the last four years at Lebanon. It’s a combination of personality, character, and confidence that sports like basketball specialize in, one that travels well, or, as Correa put it, “I can take anywhere.”
“It’s (considering the finality) a hurt piece because you never want your high school career to end,” said Correa, who’s currently undecided about a major at Delaware. “I’m trying to enjoy the time I have, trying not to worry about the future or the past. Honestly, I’m not going to regret anything. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other team.”
“What you see in games is how hard she works,” said Walborn. “She works on this all the time. But she’s more than a basketball player. If you get to know her, you’ll see a goofy side, and she’s just easy to talk to. I think that’s something special she brings to the team.”
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