A familiar face among Pintos basketball fans has been thriving in her still-fresh collegiate career.
Former California Pintos girls basketball star Elizabeth Lutz, now a sophomore guard at Western Illinois University, has quickly settled in as a contributor for the Leathernecks.
Lutz played in all 30 games for Western Illinois in both of her first two years, starting in six games in her first year. In her freshman season, Lutz averaged 5.8 points per game, playing 17 minutes a game. During her first season on Nov. 12, Lutz scored 23 points against MacMurray College. The next month, on Dec. 28, Lutz scored her season high for points with 28 against South Dakota State.
In her sophomore season, Lutz averaged 5.1 points per game in 13.5 minutes a game. This past season, on Nov. 12, she scored 14 points against Illinois Springfield, and also had two 12-point games during the season. The first was on Jan. 9 against Purdue Fort Wayne and the second was on Jan. 30 against South Dakota State. She achieved her season high on Feb. 13, putting up 18 points against South Dakota.
Lutz said she has enjoyed her first two seasons of college basketball. She said one difference she’s noticed so far in college is every game is very competitive.
“The first thing I noticed is that you couldn’t really take breaks. You could not really take days off because everyone around you is really good, your teammates are really good and all of the teams you play are really good,” Lutz said. “In high school, we would sometimes prep for a big game, and we would mark a big game on our calendar and throughout the year be building up towards a rivalry game and that would be very competitive. But in college, you can’t even look that far ahead because every game is really competitive and every game is a toss up. So you can’t just take games off or practices off or even possessions off because throughout the game (things change) so quickly. If you take 30 seconds off, the game can get out of hand.”
Lutz said she has enjoyed the transition from the high school to college level of basketball.
“It has given me the opportunity to practice my focus and my resilience,” Lutz said.
During her time at school, Lutz said she has made some great friends and that she has learned a lot, both as a person and as a player. Lutz said her time at California prepared her for college and her experience so far has prepared her for the future.
“My four years of high school at California completely prepared me for my experience thus far at Western,” Lutz said. “I think these two years have prepared me for what the rest of my career will be like as an upperclassman. I am hoping to use my first two years as kind of a spring board of experience and playing under other players to learn from my coaches and opponents into going into the type of upperclassman role I will soon take on in the fall.”
During her time in college, Lutz said she has been working on her defense and bringing energy.
“In college, most people come in being all-around kinds of players and people really need to specialize in order to find a role and fill a niche. I have worked on improving my defense and just being a player that can turn out as much energy as possible for however (long) spurts of time,” Lutz said. “(I’m) working on ball pressure and reading passing lanes and being a creator for others.”
Lutz has been consistent in her defensive play — she had 24 steals and five blocks in her freshman season and 29 steals and four blocks in her second year.
It took some time to make those adjustments when it came to specializing, Lutz said, but she has been able to make those adjustments due to her hard work.
“There was definitely a learning curve. I had to get used to the speed of the game and the physicality of college,” Lutz said. “But just playing over time throughout the days — we practice starting in July and ending in (the following) May — I have been able to adjust and become a new type of player as my college career has gone on.”
For her upperclassman years, Lutz said she wants to make the most of the remaining time she has left to play basketball.
“I guess since these are probably my last two years of basketball ever, I really just want to make the most of each day I have,” Lutz said. “Because basketball is something I grew up with; having older siblings that always played, I can’t remember a time without basketball in my life. So I really want to relish in the moment and enjoy what every day brings because in the blink of an eye, it is going to be over and I think I am going to be missing it a lot.”