City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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PENNSBURG — When Kerrie Kosakowski arrived at the Perkiomen School to head the girls program three years ago, Panthers’ Director of Basketball Operations Tom Baudinet let her know she had the program’s first building block coming to Pennsburg as well.

Kosakowksi took the head coaching job at Perk at the same time a 6-foot sophomore named Lauren Patnode was transferring to the school. Their goal was to begin to build a program together.

“He said Lauren Patnode is coming and she’s really the one person you can build around because of her athleticism, her build, everything like that,” Kosakowski said. “Since the beginning that’s been the goal of what we’ve been able to do.”

Baudinet, who coached Patnode’s older brother, was right. 

In three years at Perkiomen, Patnode, a La Salle commit, has left her mark and elevated the Panthers.

She scored her 1,000th career point at Perk on Tuesday in a win over Pennington (N.J.), becoming the first Panther to reach the milestone since 2016 grad Kristen Burdo.

“It’s really special to me, my teammates, my coaches and my family being there and supporting me was great,” Patnode said. “This was my 1,000th point at Perk the past three years, so it’s really important to me and it just shows how special this team is.”

Patnode is the younger brother of former Perk boys standout Andrew Patnode, who is a senior at Boston University.

While she grew up visiting the boarding school to watch his games, going away from home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. didn’t become a reality for her until the COVID pandemic took away her sophomore season at Saratoga Springs High School, where she played as an eighth grader and freshman.

She reclassified to the class of 2024 arrived at Perk in 2021-22 and instantly became the team’s star, but Patnode didn’t enter as a D1 prospect. She’s added layers onto her game.

Patnode began as a player who relied on almost entirely right handed drives and spot-up 3-point shots. She developed a midrange game, started playing point guard and became a disruptive defender, also making sure to work on going left.

It was fitting that a pair of contested drives with her offhand were part of the outing that helped her reach 1,000.

“If you watched any of my highlights, you won’t see a single one until this year,” Patnode said.

Along with the work on her game, she’s also embraced being the face of a burgeoning program.

“I’m super proud of Lauren,” Kosakowski said. “I’ve seen her come a really, really long ways as a vocal leader on and off the court. She’s learned a lot, and she’s matured a lot here at Perk. I’m really excited to see what she could go and do at La Salle. I think she could be really impressive there because she just keeps getting better.”

Perkiomen School senior Lauren Patnode, center, poses with her teammates after scoring her 1,000th career point in Tuesday's win over Pennington (N.J.). (Photo: Manny Ariza/Perkiomen School Athletics)

Patnode and Kosakowski have accomplished their mission of rising up the ranks. After winning the Penn-Jersey Athletic Association championship in 2022, the Panthers became an independent program last season and beefed up their schedule the past two years.

The additions of junior guard Jaycee Merizalde, already a scholarship level recruit, and senior forward Ava Darvassy, a SUNY Oneonta commit, bolstered the Panthers last season. Perk made an appearance in the PAISAA tournament and won the first PAISAA playoff game in program history.

Despite Darvassy dealing with a concussion recently and Merizalde only in her second game back from a knee injury, they were both in uniform for Patnode’s milestone afternoon. Darvassy scored some big buckets down the stretch in a 20-point effort. Patnode scored 13, and Merizalde scored 11 points.

“That’s definitely special basketball wise and (Merizalde), me and Ava are really, really close,” Patnode said. “Having her on the court, that trust and friendship really builds into the team.”

There will still be some talent in the program when Patnode leaves, led by Merizalde. Junior 5-10 wing Pearl Bixler is another potential next level player who arrived at Perkiomen School last season.

Junior guard Amarilis Shubick added even more talent this season. She was a huge help in the backcourt with Merizalde out but is currently out of the lineup herself at the moment so the Panthers’ have yet to see what they’re completely capable of.

The hope for Patnode is to get everyone back on the floor together to do just that before her final season concludes.

“Coming in here my first year versus now, this is definitely the most talented team we’ve had at Perkiomen and I think this year we’re going to go pretty far,” Patnode said. “We’ve had a few injuries, but we’re all basically back. I think by the time we get to PAISAAs we’ll be good. I think three years ago when it was Coach K’s first year and my first year, really the first year we recruited, we’ve made really, really big strides since then.”