Press Box Player of the week for Feb. 2, 2023 is Watervliet’s Lilly Lefor.
Lefor is a senior forward on the Lady Panther varsity basketball team who is typically charged with defending the opposition’s biggest player. On Jan. 18, she went up against Benton Harbor’s Desrae Kyles, a highly-recruited 6’5” center who towers over everyone on the court. Lilly played solid defense against Kyles, drawing a pair of fouls and making her work hard for points.
“Having to defend someone who is nine inches taller can psych you out. Not only is it a physical challenge, but mentally it can be one as well. It gets in your head, but walking into the game I know that my team has my back and that I have theirs. I have to give 110% on her, although I might not be able to stop her every time. If I can stop her a couple of times, limit her rebounds, or get her in foul trouble I know that I did my job.”
Lefor is in her tenth year playing basketball with the same core group of teammates, starting in the third grade with her dad (Dave) and her current coach, Ken Dietz running the team. She loves every part of the game, but especially loves the encouragement and noise made by her teammates on the bench.
She noted the resilience of her team this season after being bitten by the injury bug. “We are only halfway through the season and have four players who had to sit out one game or another. Despite all these injuries our team has rallied and played at a level that I did not think was possible with the players we were missing.”
Outside of sports she likes camping with her friends and family, and says some of her favorite memories are from those camps and tubing behind her dad’s boat at Shafer Lake.
She’s at the top of her class academically and dual-enrolled at WHS and LMC, and plans on attending Grand Valley State University in the fall.
Good luck and congratulations, Lilly!
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