Madelene McDonald, a 5-foot-11 senior and three-year varsity starter reached the 1,000-point career mark in a game against Pen Argyl on January 4th, 2014, and consequently named Morning Call’s Player of the Week. She is recognized among only six other female players in the school’s history to do the same, and currently averages 17.1 points per game during the 2013-2014 season.
“Madelene has been a four-year player and has worked extremely hard to get to where she is, so this is a great reward,” head coach Ms. Megan Dellegrotti said. “She’s led us the last two years and it’s a nice accomplishment after putting in the time to become a good player.”
A Morning Call all-area first-team selection as a junior, McDonald simultaneously lead Southern Lehigh to its third consecutive Colonial League title and the District 11 3A final where they lost to Bethlehem Catholic in 2013.
According to McDonald, the girls basketball team has focused their eyes on obtaining the Colonial League title, winning the District XI Championship, and making a good run in states. If the team successfully obtains the Colonial League title once again, they will be making history, as no other team in the Colonial League’s 39 years has won four consecutive titles.
“Getting better at sports is the same as trying to achieve any other goal in the sense that if you want something enough, you’ll work to get it,” McDonald said. “To get better at basketball you just have to play it a lot and love doing it.”
Ms. Dellegrotti has watched McDonald develop these past four years to the athlete she is today.
Regarding the Pen Argyl game in which McDonald achieved 1,000 career points, “she got her teammates involved and made everyone better,” Coach Dellegrotti said. “That’s what really great players do; they get everyone else involved. As long as she plays like that, she’s one of the best players in the Lehigh Valley.”
McDonald has been a varsity athlete all four years while on the basketball team, and has been starting for the past three. An athlete who excels in any sport she plays, she was also named First Team All-League this past field hockey season.
Committed to Loyola University, a Division 1 school in the Patriot League, McDonald has a pedigree of basketball recognition heading into her collegiate career waiting around the corner.
“As a part of the Southern Lehigh program, my role as a player has adapted over the years. The same will happen at Loyola,” McDonald said. “Achieving this shows that even if I don’t start as one of the top players in the program, I can work my way up into a good position and contribute to the team.”
Senior year seems precious, and a last for everything. McDonald approached this year prepared so she can look back on her last year of high school with no regrets.
