By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Bishop LeBlond senior Shae Lewis is continuing what now feels like a sort of tradition - a Golden Eagle playing basketball at Benedictine.
Lewis signed her letter of intent to play for the Ravens Thursday, becoming the fourth LeBlond girls' basketball player to officially commit to Benedictine.
She joins former high school teammate Kianna Herrera, who's a freshman on the team now, along with Nicole Fields (Reilly), who graduated from there in 2008, and current LeBlond head coach Jackie Steltenpohl (Ziesel), who graduated from Benedictine in 2015.
All of them played, are playing, or will be playing, for current Benedictine head coach Chad Folsom, who's led the Ravens to NAIA National Tournament appearances in seven of the last 10 seasons.
"When I went down there, I could tell it was definitely like a family and community," Lewis said. "I loved being close to home. I'm really close to my parents and that's all I could ask for. The basketball team is great and welcoming and I can't wait to start my future down there."
Lewis, who plans to study biology at Benedictine, has played a key role for the Golden Eagles each of the last several years, helping the Golden Eagles to consecutive district titles in 2021 and 2022.
Lewis averaged 11.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2 steals per game last season in her junior year, helping the Eagles to a 22-8 mark.
LeBlond picked up where they left off last season, racing off to a 6-0 start in 2022-23.
"We need to not expect to go so far and just take it game by game," Lewis said, "and just realize we're going to win some and lose some and just take it game by game."
For Steltenpohl, it's a point of pride to send a second player who she's coached down to Atchison to play for her alma mater.
"It's definitely rewarding as a coach to see," she said. "That these athletes want to continue playing and it just shows that our program has changed so much in the last 5-6 years I've been coaching. It all comes from the players and how hard they work. We wouldn't be where we are today without these players here."
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