City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Lauren and Riley Stackhouse added the roles of coach and player to their mother-daughter relationship about seven years ago when Lauren became Riley’s travel ball coach.

When Riley arrived at West Chester Rustin High School a few years later, the rides to and from games and practices went from just spring and summer to fall and winter as well.

They’re now quickly coming to an end. 

Riley is more than halfway through her senior season, soon to play for someone who’s not her mom for the first time when she continues her career at Widener next year.

“She’s a great coach and I love playing for her,” Riley said. “It sucks that it’s over soon but it was the best time.”

Lauren (Snyder) was a 5-foot-6 guard in her playing days. After finishing her high school career at Upper Merion, she became Delaware Valley University’s career leader in rebounds as well as ranking sixth in scoring, second in steals and third in assists. 

Riley had plenty of basketball advice from an early age.

“Hustle. It doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest, smallest, just always give your all,” Riley said of Lauren’s lessons for her.

West Chester Rustin senior Riley Stackhouse, left, waits to check in as her mother Lauren coaches next to her on Jan. 14 at Arcadia. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Riley’s a 5-7 guard averaging a team-high 16.5 ppg to lead an experienced Rustin group. Unsurprisingly, Riley’s in a similar mold as a player to her mother, even if Lauren gives the younger Stackhouse the edge.

“She’s probably surpassed anything that I’ve ever done or will do, so I’m excited for her next four years,” Lauren said. “I was similar, scrappy, loved to rebound, loved to get in there and grind with the bigs. I was only 5-6 but I definitely see a lot of glimpses in the type of player I was in her, which is pretty cool.”

Those traits Riley got from her mother are some of the ones Widener is excited to get next year.

“They like that I can scrap, I can jump, I can rebound, I can shoot, pretty much everything,” Riley said. “They love that I hustle, dive on the floor.”

Lauren was an assistant at Downingtown East for four years before getting the head coaching position at Rustin. She also co-founded the Delco Goats AAU organization in 2018 .

She was just looking for the opportunity to be a head coach at the high school level in 2019 when the Rustin job opened, but it provided an unexpected opportunity to eventually coach Riley for the Golden Knights.

“It’s been awesome,” Lauren said. “I’m so lucky to have that extra time with her. For me sometimes it’s hard because she is my daughter. We kind of have a rule amongst ourselves that when we step into the gym, we are not mother-daughter, we are player-coach. 

“She’s really good at understanding that. I try to make sure that rule stays and sometimes I feel bad because she has to ride home from the game with the coach. She definitely hears it a little bit more than probably some of the other players do, but she handles it really well with maturity and poise.”

West Chester Rustin's Riley Stackhouse (33) will continue her career at Widener University, where she will play for someone besides her mom for the first time since she started high school. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Riley arrived at Rustin a year later in 2020-21 and became a starter in her sophomore season in 2021-22 when she averaged 7.2 ppg for a Golden Knights team that went 12-4, won a Ches-Mont League championship and advanced to the District 1-6A quarters. 

She was an All-Ches-Mont honorable mention last season and averaged 7.8 ppg as a junior as the Golden Knights won a second straight Ches-Mont League title and the District 1-5A championship and advanced to the state semifinals behind current Drexel Dragon Laine McGurk.

After the graduation of four fellow starters, Riley has been one of the best players in the league as a senior. The Golden Knights don’t have the same type of firepower as last season’s squad, but a 10-3 start overall and 4-1 start in the Ches-Mont National has Rustin looking like a factor in the league and the district once again.

“It’s been awesome,” Riley said. “This year’s just been so fun. Everyone’s getting along. Even though I'm the leader, everyone’s involved. It doesn’t matter who’s on the court. There’s always a leader.”

There’s always a basketball game of some kind on at the Stackhouse household. It’s no surprise Riley isn’t the only hooper in the family.

While Lauren said she’s trying to pull back her coaching in the summer, there are two more Stackhouse girls in the Rustin hoops pipeline, including one arriving at the high school next year. 

Lauren’s had plenty of practice on how to handle things.

“It was hard at times because obviously the mother-daughter, that kind of sometimes gets in the way, but it never really did,” Riley said. “She’s a great coach and she never treated me differently than anyone else, so that made it really easy.”

Lauren expects she won’t completely halt her coaching relationship with Riley. She will still be tempted to break down some film and send texts with postgame advice. 

It will be fun to just be a mom in the stands, however, during games at Widener next year.

“I’ll never trade the minutes that I’ve gotten and the relationship,” Lauren said. “I’m excited to not coach her in the years to come. I will say that. I’m excited for her to do her own thing.”