City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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It didn’t take long for Ryann Jennings to see the vision.

In early September, the Conestoga junior and her parents had made the drive up to Bethlehem to visit Lehigh’s campus. While they were there, the Mountain Hawks invited the Jennings’ to take in a team practice and the more Ryann watched, the more she saw it.

Lehigh offered that weekend and on Feb. 14, Jennings bought into that vision when she announced her commitment to join the Patriot League program in its Class of 2026.

“It felt very real, I felt like I could see myself there,” Jennings told CoBL following Conestoga’s District 1 Class 6A second round playoff win on Wednesday. “It was a great experience. I’ve been out to see a bunch of their games this season and they reciprocated. I’ve built a good relationship with the coaching staff and their style of play really fits with mine.”

Jennings, a three-year starter for Conestoga and a mainstay on the Comets GUAA team at her age level the past two summers, had been pulling in offers since the summer of 2023 following her freshman year. A 5-foot-9 guard with a still expanding game, Jennings had accumulated double-digit Division I offers by the fall by the time Lehigh added itself to the list.

Lehigh had actually first shown some interest this summer, the staff talking with Jennings a couple times during the AAU season before formally extending the offer on her visit in September, with Jennings making it public on Sept. 9. Things moved quickly from there, the more Jennings got to know the staff and players while getting to see the Mountain Hawks in person, the more she saw herself in brown and white after her senior year of high school.

“It was a perfect fit all around,” Jennings said. “It’s a really good school, nice campus and of course, really good basketball.”

Lehigh is in the midst of a terrific season; the Mountain Hawks are 22-4 overall as of Feb. 20 and sit atop the Patriot League at 13-1. Sixth year head coach Addie Micir has Lehigh eyeing its first Patriot League title since the 2020-21 campaign, the Hawks leading the league in both points per game (70.0) and fewest points allowed per game (56.8) this year.

“Defensively, they play team defense, they just move very well together,” Jennings said. “On offense, it’s similar, they play very together and they all move the ball. They shoot a lot of threes. They just play team-oriented basketball and I really liked that.”

Jennings is putting together another strong season as a junior, Wednesday’s win qualifying Conestoga for its third straight PIAA playoff appearance. The guard also surpassed 1,000 career points earlier this season, the program’s first player to hit the mark since Ellie Mack in 2017.

She came into the Conestoga program as a talented outside shooter but Jennings’ all-around game has grown leaps and bounds over the last three years. Similarly, she's expanded her game playing with a balanced Comets group the past few summers.

She’s still a dead-eye perimeter shooter and is very good at knocking down looks on the move but she’s now able to hit the midrange look consistently and has been using her size as a weapon to score more inside this year as well. This year, the junior has also stepped up on defense, disruptive in the full court and taking on some tougher assignments on that end of the floor.

“I’m trying to be more versatile,” Jennings said. “Freshman and sophomore year, I usually looked to shoot threes but this year, people were coming out and face-guarding me more. If they’re taking away the three, I have a height advantage on most girls, so I’m trying to post up or get the midrange, not just focus on that one thing.”

Jennings also plays soccer at Conestoga, the junior starting the entire season on defense as the Pioneers finished as the PIAA Class 4A runner-up. However, basketball has always been her no. 1 sport, Jenning stating that she most enjoys the feeling that comes from being on a court.

She also becomes the first college athlete in her family but credited her two older brothers for helping instill her competitive edge and toughness.

“They really helped elevate my game and showed me how to play more physically,” Jennings said. “That’s definitely helped me now and will help me at the college level

Jennings’ commitment gives the Pioneers two future Division I athletes and two future Patriot League players on the roster. Conestoga senior Janie Preston committed to Army this summer, so the two will get a few chances to play against each other starting in the 2026-27 NCAA season.

For now, Jennings, Preston and the rest of the Pioneers are focused on the playoffs and building off last season’s second round exit in the state tournament.

As far as her future, Jennings saw the vision of what it could be at Lehigh and liked what the way that looked. Announcing her commitment was only the first step to making that vision a reality and don’t expect her to leave it at that.

“I’m definitely going to keep working and try to elevate my game,” Jennings said. “You can’t stop here.”