As the temperature starts to drop and the winter weather makes its way to D.C., The Eagle caught up with freshman guard Kaitlyn Lewis to talk about her goals, career aspirations and superstitions. Lewis has logged over a dozen minutes in four games so far this year and said she looks forward to playing conference teams at the end of the month. Lewis said the speed of the college game has created new challenges, but her teammates and coaches are helping her learn additional skills to adapt to the increased pace of play.
How did you choose AU?
It’s in the city, and from where I’m from in Pennsylvania, it’s not city-like, it’s county, so I really wanted the opportunity to be in the city and experience different things. And the coaching staff is really great, I really got along with them well. When I met the team, it just felt like a family.
What’s been your favorite part so far?
Everything. I’ve just had a lot of great professors, and I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the classes that I’m taking. I know the season has been rough so far, we have been off to a rough start, but I’m still enjoying it, and I think the team has been really close.
What are you most looking forward to about the season?
Just hopefully getting off to a better start once the Patriot League starts up, and just kind of experiencing all of freshman year, and hopefully we can get another Patriot League Championship.
What’s been the biggest transition that you’ve had to make from high school to college?
It’s a faster game. In high school, you’re not used to playing against people who can play defense. Here, everybody can play defense, and you’re always going to have a good defender on you. And you also have to work as a team. Everybody that’s here, they were like the number one or number two player on their team, so like everybody can play, and you just have to learn to play with each other and learn people’s tendencies and just get to know each other.
Is it hard to bring in people from different backgrounds to play one game when they all have so many different styles, and if so, how do you overcome that, and if not, what do you think makes it so cohesive?
I think it is tough a little bit at the beginning, but then again, we’re all pretty similar. I mean, we’re different in the way that we play basketball. The coaches has even said ‘everyone here has a different way, nobody does the same thing,' so it’s different in the fact that you have to learn how other people play, and if they’re a good three-point shooter, like Kate [Bond], you have to know that you want to drive and kick to Kate on the three-point line, and she’s not going to want to drive, and you have to know that Michelle [Holmes] likes to be on the block. So it’s different, but we’re all really good players, so I think that it will be easy once the freshmen start clicking. It’s difficult to get used to.
What would you say is the biggest thing that you bring to the team?
Right now, well, I’m trying to learn the point guard position, so I’m trying to become a better passer. So, I would say passing and trying to call the plays and stuff, that’s what they want from me, so kind of trying to play the point guard role and bring everyone together and keep things under control.
I heard about your superstitious socks. Can you talk a little bit about that?
In high school, our team was really superstitious, so I always had to wear the same pair of socks before every game, and we always, as a team had to braid our hair the same way. But yeah, I still do the superstitious socks. I have to wear the same pair for every game. We all wear our blue socks, so I mean, they are different socks now than they were in high school.
You recorded your first point against William and Mary. What was that like?
Good. It was a free throw. I missed the first one, so I was like ‘I’ve got to make the second one now.’
Looking ahead, what are your individual and team goals?
I think, as a team goal, we want to win a game. We think that we set the bar a little higher after the game [against Wake Forest], competing against an ACC team, and now we just want to win a game, but obviously, once we get into the Patriot League, even though I know the league picked us as fifth, I think we still expect a lot from ourselves. We really want to get back to the championship for the Patriot League and try to get another win. But as for the four years, just hoping that us four freshmen really click and grow together.
