City of Basketball Love

Liam O’Murchu (@Liam_0__)
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Laine McGurk has long been a key part of West Chester Rustin’s success. But this year it’s different. The senior forward has been dominating on a nightly basis and it’s led to win after win for the Golden Knights early in the year.

The Golden Knights are coming off a 22-6 season in which they went 10-0 in conference play and brought home the Ches-Mont title. But they fell in two tight games to open the District 1 5A, tournament and their playoff journey ended just as quickly as it began.

“We ended our last season with a sour taste in our mouth,” McGurk said. “We definitely thought that we could have gone farther into districts and farther into states, but our season ended very abruptly. So we're taking that energy into this year.”

Although she was an established presence in the Ches-Mont last year, averaging 21.7 points per game and being named the Ches-Mont American player of the year, coming into her senior season, things felt a little different. McGurk knew that as a senior she was a leader on the court and needed to set the example for her teammates.

“It's definitely been a big change because last year, being an underclassmen and not in a leadership role,” McGurk said. “You tend to goof around and not take some of these serious games that seriously. So being a leader, definitely, there's a lot more pressure [this season].”

Coming into Thursday night’s matchup with Great Valley, McGurk was averaging 25.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, the high-water mark a career-high 35 points in a season-opening loss to Abington.

Despite only scoring 10 points (which was still tied for the team lead), McGurk still made her presence felt in the team’s 39-35 win over the Patriots on Thursday. Her athleticism was on full display as she alternated between blocking shots on the defensive end and busting out her silky smooth mid-range jumper.

“Laine is one of those players where her athleticism is just unmatched in terms of what she does on the court,” Rustin head coach Lauren Stackhouse said. “She is able to take over a game on her own, she can create for herself. But this year, I really feel like she's evolved her game to the point where she trusts her teammates.”

McGurk’s versatility on the offensive end is one of the most noticeable aspects of her game. She loves a transition ‘3’ but isn’t afraid to attack the basket and facilitate for her teammates.

“I try to draw attention to myself to get my teammates open,” McGurk said. “I'm definitely a big team player. I love seeing my teammates do well, it gets me really excited.”

A facet of McGurk’s game that has grown exponentially since her freshman year is her composure and maturity. 

Shutting down McGurk is the emphasis of the game plan of most teams matching up with the Knights, who improved to 7-2 (3-0 Ches-Mont) with the win. She knows that teams will look to get under her skin and get her rattled. That often comes with a lot of physical defense and attention from referees, which can be frustrating when the calls aren’t going her way. So she has been focusing on staying composed and trusting her teammates even when she’s having an off night.

“She's able to talk to refs with maturity because she gets bodied up a lot of games,” Stackhouse said. “She'll get face guarded, sometimes she'll get played dirty and she does a really good job of keeping her composure, showing poise out on the court and just showing a lot of class.”

McGurk is one of many players on Rustin who played multiple sports throughout her childhood, and she acknowledges this has greatly improved her abilities on the basketball court. Although it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows playing sports other than basketball (like when she got cut from the Rustin soccer team as a freshman), McGurk knows how important those experiences have been in making her better on the court.

Rustin returns four starters this year but the further you examine their roster, the more continuity you find. Much of the team has played a myriad of sports with each other for years, which has paid dividends in building team chemistry in a sport that is ripe with roster turnover. 

But there is no one that McGurk is more familiar with than the other McGurk on the team, her twin sister Elizabeth. Growing up the two competed with each other in just about every way possible, as any set of twins would. That competition primarily manifested itself in competition on the field or the court where the two excelled.

Although the sisters carved different paths for themselves, with Laine focusing on basketball and Elizabeth focusing on lacrosse, they maintained a strong bond. In fact, sometimes that bond can be a little too strong.

“There's definitely been some tough times on the court,” McGurk said. “We get into some fights, some arguments, but nothing too serious. We're both just so into it and we're so competitive. We grew up competing with each other and we're really comfortable around each other. So we feel that we can say a little bit too much to each other. Sometimes we forget that we're teammates rather than sisters.”

When they’re avoiding what the team has termed “sister fights” they raise the level for the Knights and are a crucial part of a team with a hunger to win. Stackhouse says the two have a great relationship and “they feed off each other in a positive way, which is really nice. They are a lot of fun.”

Luckily for the McGurk’s they’ll continue to see a lot of each other as they head into college. While Elizabeth will be playing lacrosse at Saint Joseph’s, Laine is headed to Drexel to play basketball under head coach Amy Mallon.

McGurk started the recruiting process early and says that she really enjoyed getting to know various coaching staffs but Drexel really stuck out as she evaluated schools. McGurk was very impressed with what Mallon is building in University City as a whole, but especially the offense the Dragons run. And as a prospective student, the idea of attending a renowned business school like the one at Drexel was the cherry on top.

But before McGurk heads off to college, she and her teammates have some unfinished business this winter.

“We want to make it far into districts,” she said. “We want to go into states. We want to take what we lost last year and put into this year.”