This hoops star didn't win her senior year. But she helped her team build for the future

For four quarters, Leah Kale seemed to handle it like any other game.

The Spring Grove senior kept a focused, steely look on her face while navigating the constant double-teams Red Lion threw at her last Friday. Her shot wasn't falling and the Lions held her to a season-low six points, but she fought for rebounds and facilitated for teammate Kacie Boyer. She nodded when given advice from her coaching staff.

But moments after the Rockets shook hands with the Lions after a 47-36 defeat, Kale couldn't contain her emotions any longer. The tears flowed as she hugged her teammates, coaches and father following the final game of her high school career. Spring Grove finished outside the playoff picture with a 6-16 record.

"It's been a long four years, and it's definitely sad that it's over," Kale said after the game. "But it was the end of a chapter, and I'm excited to start a new chapter."

But Kale's high school career was more four separate chapters than one installment. Describing her simply as a 1,000-point scorer headed to a NCAA Division II school doesn't quite get to the heart of the story.

Neither does looking at her as just a player putting up good statistics for a struggling team.

In reality, Kale was a player who had to excel in different situations as circumstances changed around her. As a freshman, she was thrown on the varsity court with a large senior class with high expectations ... as a sophomore, she was a role player for a dominant District 3 champ ... her last two years, she had to accept the responsibility of carrying a program that was surprisingly rebuilding.

She was also playing in the shadow of an older sister who led the program to its previous heights.

"It was definitely a change going from a district title to a losing record," said said. "Just keeping a positive mindset and staying strong, because if you let all those emotions get to you, you're not going to have fun.

"Having fun and letting the game come to you has been a big thing for me."

Back to back? How this YAIAA hoops team went from rebuilding to the cusp of another title

Kale admitted that wasn't always easy for her. Like any competitive teenage athlete, her emotions got the best of her at times. After all, it's not fun to lose.

But Kale hopes she did more this season than lead YAIAA Division I in scoring (19.5 points per game) and reach more personal accolades. Hopefully, she helped set the foundation for the next competitive stretch of Spring Grove girls basketball.

"She's a really great role model in that she puts in a lot of great work outside of the games," Spring Grove head coach Allison Osborne said. "When little girls see someone achieving those great things and they see the work ethic behind it, I think that's going to carry on much longer for our program than the years she's been in it."

'Growing in a lot of different ways'

At the beginning of the season, Osborne sat down with Kale for a discussion.

The first-year head coach knew the star player was going to need to carry the team in more ways than one. While its district-title team had just one senior starter, Spring Grove fell from 21-3 in 2021 to 9-12 in 2022 due to low participation numbers and players deciding to focus on other sports. Kale led YAIAA Division I in scoring as a junior (17.1 points per game) and was likely going to need to take more shots as a senior.

The Rockets entered this season with just 11 players from grades nine to 12. For the third straight year, they had no JV team. Three players in the starting lineup were sophomores or freshmen.

Kale was the only senior on the roster.

"We talked about how she was going to grow in a lot of different ways," Osborne said. "She had her chances to grow in other ways and now she was going to have to grow in a more leadership role. When you have all that talent and success, that comes a little more naturally. When you go through this (rebuild), you have to develop those (leadership) skills a lot quicker. I think it really developed her IQ which can carry over with you to higher-caliber teams at the college level."

What's it like to be a referee? Go behind the scenes of a basketball game with the crew

Some of Spring Grove's players were playing basketball for the first time in a few years. That meant Osborne was often explaining concepts in practice that Kale had already mastered. The 29-year-old coach said the senior would give "pointers here and there" and challenge her teammates during drills when needed.

During games, the 5-foot-9 Kale's combination of shooting and physicality meant she was usually able to withstand the attention opposing defenses put on her. She topped 30 points four times. Her 1,000th career point came on a running, twisting 3-pointer with two Dover players putting their hands in her face.

But Kale said the season was frustrating for her at times. Two years ago, the Rockets went 5-1 against YAIAA Division I contenders Central York, Dallastown and Red Lion. This year, they went 0-6 against those powerhouses and lost by double digits 13 times.

"You've gotta let it out sometimes," Kale said. "I'll get mad and throw my (warmup) shirt or something stupid. But I try to calm down and take a step back and tell myself it's not a big deal. I know what kind of player I am and can have confidence in myself and relax."

Still, Osborne said Kale remained positive most of the season. In an effort to build the program, Osborne had the varsity players attend middle school games and practices to meet younger players. She said Kale and talented sophomore Kacie Boyer served as "mentors" to those girls.

Kale said it's bittersweet to graduate in the middle of a rebuild but is happy to "be there at the beginning of hopefully a good legacy."

"She's such a kind person and very inclusive," Osborne said. "She'd go out of her way to help (other players) if they needed it and that's been very helpful to building girls back into the program. That camaraderie plays a big part of success and people feeling safe to make mistakes. She was a big part of that."

A new but familiar chapter

Kale's next chapter will still be very familiar for her.

She has committed to Bloomsburg University, where she'll again be teammates with her older sister Ella. A college sophomore, Ella Kale scored 1,209 points in her Spring Grove career and started for Bloomsburg this season. The two played together for two seasons in high school.

The two have plenty of differences. Ella is 5-foot-6 combo guard with "fancy moves" and a step back 3-point shot. Leah is 5-foot-9 and strong enough that Osborne sometimes had to guard her in practice. Ella is studying middle level education while Leah plans to study political science before going to law school.

Leah said she used to feel pressure to live up to her sister but is happy to play with her again.

More on Ella Kale:Spring Grove's do-it-all guard dominating for young team

"It's super exciting because I already have chemistry with her," said Leah. "Definitely last year I felt pressure. I didn't want to live in her shadow. But this year I realized I'm my own player."

While she hopes to win games with her sister like she did two years ago, Leah is still grateful for the lessons she learned this season.

"I'm thankful for the team I had my senior year. I couldn't have picked a better team if I had to," Kale said. "They're a great group of girls. Our team chemistry was really good. We always had a good time."

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone. 

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Spring Grove's Leah Kale helped basketball team build for the future