Patti Hower knows basketball greatness when she sees it.
After all, she coached a slew of great ones during a distinguished 42-year career at Lebanon Catholic that saw her guide the Beavers to three state Class A championships, in addition to a staggering 20 district titles.
It wasn’t really reasonable to expect a continuation of the great players and teams she produced at Catholic when Hower came out of retirement a few years back to guide the fledgling Our Lady of the Cross girls team.
Read More: Legendary coach Patti Hower finds her new home at Our Lady of the Cross
And then Riley Hatzfeld walked into the gym last season and changed everything.
She hasn’t really stopped, either, lighting the scoreboard up to a degree that is rarely seen at the small school level. How so? Well, in less than two full seasons at OLC, the sharp-shooting senior guard has become a career 1,000-point scorer despite being the team’s only legitimate threat to turning in a hot shooting performance.
“She’s a special player. She’s absolutely a special player,” Hower said recently. “And she’s worked extremely hard to get where she is. She has an arsenal of weapons on the offensive end and she’s worked hard at them, perfected them. Because most games. they put two players on her and she still gets 30 points.”
Indeed, with her ability to score in so many ways – Including three-pointers and drives to the basket – Hatzfeld has wreaked havoc on opponents, averaging a staggering 34.3 points per game a season ago, before dipping to 30.1 points per contest this year while leading OLC to a 13-7 record and a berth in the upcoming District 3 Class A playoffs.
Prior to coming to Our Lady of the Cross as a sophomore, before the program had ever played a PIAA-sanctioned game, Hatzfeld attended Lebanon Catholic until its closure in 2020.
“I did not,” she said with a smile, when asked if she envisioned reaching 1,000 points in such a short period of time. “I’m glad that I got it at this school because I love it here,” said Hatzfeld.
As a team, OLC averages just a shade under 45 points a game, meaning the numbers basically make Hatzfeld a one-girl scoring show. Not that anyone is complaining, including her young and less experience teammates, who’ve embraced their roles as Hatzfeld’s supporting cast.
“It’s all Riley,” Hower said. “The other players know their role and they know get the ball to Riley.”
“It means more that I got it with my teammates because they do a lot for me,” Hatzfeld said.
Despite her offensive dominance, it’s that team-first approach that has also allowed Hatzfeld to shine on the summer AAU circuit while also eyeing a college hoops career. She is currently looking at Bloomsburg and Lebanon Valley, among others.
Wherever she ends up, one thing is certain, she’ll add some impressive scoring punch to her new team.
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