Girls Basketball Player of the Year: Trinity’s Riley DeRubbo
Riley DeRubbo
Eleanor Bailey/the Almanac
Trinity’s Riley DeRubbo makes her way to the basket during the WPIAL Class 5A Championship game against Chartiers Valley.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Trinity’s Riley DeRubbo drives during a regular-season game against Peters Township. DeRubbo was named third team all-state Monday.
Huddling around the center circle at midcourt as practice concluded at Hiller Hall, the Trinity High School girls basketball team talked about its travel plans to Chambersburg High School for the second round of the state tournament.
Riley DeRubbo didn’t have much to say during the gathering, until somebody asked about the Chambersburg gymnasium.
“I’ve been there,” DeRubbo answered. “It’s nice.”
The question jogged her memories as a freshman in that gym located three-and-a-half hours east of Washington. The same gym in which she watched former teammate Sierra Kotchman break the school’s all-time scoring record. The same gym in which DeRubbo grabbed six second-half rebounds in a 44-39 win over Archbishop Carroll, helping Trinity to the 2017 PIAA Class 5A semifinals and eventually become the first girls basketball team from Washington County to make it to a state championship game.
It seems like a long time ago for DeRubbo, who has played an integral part to the Hillers’ success in one way or another over the past four years.
“My freshman year is something I’ll always remember,” DeRubbo said. “Sierra was a our big leader at the time. She was a great player. After she was gone, I knew I had to step up and try to take her place. I had to do more. I had to work on becoming a vocal leader.”
And as DeRubbo stepped on the floor for possibly the last time as a high school player 25 days ago, it was in that same Chambersburg gym.
It was DeRubbo leading the way this time, scoring 18 points as Trinity advanced to the state quarterfinals. And while nobody knows whether or not the basketball championships will resume – they were suspended the next day – DeRubbo’s journey, no matter how many derailments threatened it, came full circle.
For that, the Trinity senior has been named the Observer-Reporter Girls Basketball Player of the Year.
DeRubbo is the fourth girls player from Trinity to be named O-R Player of the Year. Kotchman received the honor in 2017, Amanda Burchett in 1997 and Karen Donley was the first in 1988.
“These last four years are definitely something to remember,” DeRubbo said. “It’s been a great experience. I’ve never had so many ups in my life. I’ve had to overcome big problems, some things that many people don’t have to go through. It’s not only made me a better basketball player but moreso a better person.”
Her growth didn’t go unnoticed.
“You could see her start to bloom,” former Trinity girls basketball coach Bob Miles said about DeRubbo after her freshman year. “I think sometimes when you work with a kid every day you take some of their skills and abilities for granted. You forget just how talented they truly are.”
Miles saw that from an opponent’s bench during DeRubbo’s senior year, just months after she and other members Hillers’ team fought for him to keep his job. The Trinity coach for seven years was forced to face his former team and standout as an assistant for Peters Township in only the third game into this season.
Miles watched DeRubbo shred the Indians for 21 points.
“You could see from the other side what an accomplished player she was,” Miles said. “You aren’t going to shut Riley down. You can’t completely shut her down. She does more than just score. She is a tremendous defensive player. She distributes the ball. She rebounds. She really is a total player.”
DeRubbo continued to prove she was a complete player as a senior, averaging 16.7 points, 4.1 assists, 5.7 rebounds and two steals per game. She shot 80% from the free-throw line, and to think she was just over a year removed from a devastating injury.
In the summer before her junior season, DeRubbo tore her ACL in an AAU basketball game in Kansas. She underwent surgery July 25, 2018, and had months of rigorous rehabbing, losing most of her junior season in the process.
This was just after she was a first-team all-district player, averaging 17.1 points, five rebounds and five assists as a sophomore – making the big jump to lead Trinity after Kotchman’s graduation. Instead of playing most of her junior season, DeRubbo sat side-by-side with Miles on the sidelines as the young Hillers battled back to the postseason for the fifth straight year.
“The most memorable thing was watching her grow as an individual, not just a basketball player in that time,” Miles said. “She was there for her teammates. And I don’t know anybody who worked harder to get back to the level she is at now. The kid just worked every single day. She is extremely motivated and has that desire.”
Entering her senior season, it didn’t take long to build a new trust with first-year coach Kathy McConnell-Miller. Hired three months before the start of the season, McConnell-Miller instantly knew she had a self-motivated player willing to do whatever it took to win.
“She was never afraid to talk about her goals,” McConnell-Miller said. “She was willing to work. She was accepting to being pushed every single day. From the first time I walked into Trinity with her as my player, I think she knew that I had faith in the player she was. That she could do the things we needed her to do – play different positions, handling the ball at the end of games. I had such a comfort level when she was on the floor. Every time she was out there I thought we had a chance to win any game.”
And win Trinity did.
The Hillers won seven of their first eight games. They had two six-game winning streaks – one in the middle of December and the other throughout January – to compete in one of the toughest sections in the entire state.
“(What happened in the offseason) 100% lit a fire,” DeRubbo said. “I stood up for what I thought was right. That’s what got us all going. This was going to be the year.”
Trinity made it back to the Petersen Events Center for a WPIAL championship game for the first time since 2016, albeit in a loss to Chartiers Valley. The Hillers bounced back with a pair of dominating performances to open the state tournament before the coronavirus pandemic postponed the winter sports championships less than 24 hours after their win over Great Valley.
With the remainder of the season in limbo, DeRubbo’s high school career might have ended when she walked off that familiar Chambersburg court the same way she did three years ago – as a winner.