Riley Lupfer carving out name in GSL hoops

Riley Lupfer is etching her place in Greater Spokane League girls basketball history.

By the end of the Lewis and Clark senior’s season, she’ll like where she stands.

Truth be known, though, she’d give away all of her points – and it’s a pile of them – for one trip to Tacoma.

The league’s second-leading scorer scores because her team needs her too. But it’s not something she forces.

“If I scored two points and we won, that’s most important,” Lupfer said.

That’s sincere humility too. Because Lupfer can score and score with the best of them.

Lupfer, a four-year starter, exceeded 1,000 points late last season. Until this week, though, she had no idea how many points she had scored.

She has a chance to finish as high as fourth all-time in league scoring and sixth all-time for all games.

The 5-foot-9 guard, a first team all-GSL pick a year ago, is averaging 18.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.

Lupfer (pronounced Loop-fur) epitomizes the term leader. But it’s a term LC coach George Pfeifer doesn’t use.

“We don’t talk about leaders in our program,” Pfeifer said. “We talk about the total package and she’s the total package. She plays hard, she has a high basketball IQ and she’s ultra-competitive. Some kids, when the lights get brighter, they become invisible. In her case she just gets brighter. She doesn’t run and hide from it.”

Lupfer possesses one other attribute that’s endearing to her coach.

“She makes others around her better,” Pfeifer said. “She can cash the check. She’s a pure joy to coach.”

Lupfer signed with Boise State University in November after giving the school an oral commitment last March. She turned down offers from Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana State, among others.

“When my recruiting process started, I thought I’d go to Gonzaga,” Lupfer said. “It was close to home and I love being around my family.”

The moment she took an unofficial visit to Boise, she knew immediately where she wanted to spend her college career.

“I went down there and didn’t want to leave,” she said. “My parents didn’t like it but I told them they could just leave me there and I’d be home already. The coaches and the players were like family, they were so genuine.”

“Riley is a terrific shooter, great passer and makes everyone else better around her on the court,” BSU coach Gordy Presnell said when she signed. “She was a highly recruited kid and had several offers from other schools. We are really looking forward to everything that Riley brings to our program.”

The left-handed Lupfer was playing in a fall league game about five weeks before this season began when she broke the fifth metacarpal bone in her shooting hand.

“I jumped to intercept a pass and I jammed my hand into a player,” she said. “I felt pain, but I thought it was nothing more than a jam.”

A while later at home, her mom asked her to sign a birthday card. She couldn’t squeeze the pen, and she knew it was more than a jam.

An X-ray showed a clean break. She was put in a hard cast that wrapped around her three inside fingers and near the wrist and left her outer two fingers exposed.

Pfeifer insisted that she visit a sports doctor. He took the hard cast off and put a plastic cast on for more mobility.

“Since it was a clean break, the doctor said it would take four weeks to heal,” she said.

Lupfer got the cast off a week before preseason practice began.

When she put up her first shots, it felt foreign.

“It almost felt like I had never shot a basketball in my life. It wasn’t comfortable,” she said.

Her shooting touch returned quickly, though. In a game last week, she made 6 of 7 3-point attempts.

GSL coaches know Lupfer’s value to her team.

“She’s a great shooter with the ability to take over any game,” Central Valley coach Freddie Rehkow said.

“One of the smoothest basketball players I’ve seen in a long time,” Mead coach Quantae Anderson said. “Might be the best player in the league.”

If there’s a knock against Lupfer, it’s her lateral quickness. It hasn’t been a liability in high school, but it’s something she’ll have to work on at the next level.

“She’s real crafty and has a great ability to find ways to shoot,” Northwest Blazers club coach, Steve Klees, said. “She can cross over and go between her legs. She shoots well off of screens.”

Pfeifer said six months ago foot speed may have been an issue. But he said Lupfer has made strides.

“I’ve never been known for my quickness,” Lupfer said, smiling. “But I have gotten faster. I’m not OK with being slow. I’m working at it. I feel like I’ve improved my footwork a lot. I think I use my game in different ways to get around it.”

Lupfer has a passion to be the best player she can be. Nobody has to tell her to go practice. Any time she has extra time, she’s doing something to make herself better.

LC trails league-leading and No. 1-ranked Central Valley by a game. CV won the first matchup 49-44. The rematch is Jan. 29 at LC.

And there’s a good chance LC and CV could play as many as three more times after the rematch if both teams advance to Tacoma.

“As a team, we didn’t play the best,” Lupfer said. “We can beat them. We’re an older team, we start four seniors. But they’re undefeated for a reason.”

Lupfer will do anything to get her team to Tacoma. She’s been there as a spectator twice, including watching LC win a state championship back when the Tigers were regular qualifiers.

She knows she’ll need her teammates to get the job done.

“I can’t go to state by myself,” she said.