Hoops took Plymouth Whitemarsh alumna Lauren Fortescue all over the country and into the Division III title game

Plymouth Whitemarsh girls’ basketball coach Dan Dougherty watched with bated breath.

The NCAA Division III women’s basketball final was a thriller, of course, but it was the performance of one of his former players, Christopher Newport’s Lauren Fortescue, that captivated him.

And though it wasn’t the ending Fortescue’s Captains wanted — they lost, 57-52, to Transylvania — the graduate student studying environmental science appreciates every step of the journey that culminated last weekend in Dallas.

“I think I’ve learned so many things along the way,” she said. “I think the biggest part of me growing is that I’ve played different roles at those different schools. It helped me to learn a lot of characteristics that if I wasn’t at the right place at the right time, I don’t think I would be the person that I am today. So I’m just really grateful for not only growing as a player, but I also met my best friends along my whole journey as an athlete.”

Fortescue transferred to Christopher Newport from Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference foe Salisbury University, where she was a two-time team captain and second-team all-conference pick her senior season. The 5-foot-7 guard started every game in the two seasons she was a captain and averaged 10.3 career points but was happy to come off the bench for Christopher Newport, a role that became vital to the team’s run, head coach Bill Broderick said.

“She brought experience; she brought confidence to our team; she brought toughness to our team,” he said. “She brought humility. After being a starter and an all-conference player at Salisbury, she was willing to fit into whatever role, whatever we needed her to do in order to get to a national championship. … She really led by example and just really worked hard, was very competitive.

“Lauren actually became our best perimeter defender. So we were able to bring her in and play against whoever the other team’s best guard is. The other thing is she brought a scoring punch off the bench. It was really nice to have somebody who was a veteran who would be able to come in and was able to score in a lot of different ways.”

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Fortescue played in 32 games this season, averaging 5.9 points in 15.8 minutes for the Captains, who finished 31-1. In that NCAA championship game against Transylvania, she scored five points and helped Christopher Newport rally from a 13-point deficit, tying the game with a pair of free throws with 2 minutes, 18 seconds left before the Pioneers (33-0) pulled away. She added a couple clutch free throws in the Captains’ 56-51 win over Rhode Island College in the Final Four.

Fortescue brought some NCAA Tournament experience into the Captains’ run to Dallas, having helped Salisbury to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2014-15. That penchant for success traces back to her roots at Norristown and Plymouth Whitemarsh, where she played her junior and senior seasons. She helped lead the Colonials to consecutive undefeated Suburban One League seasons, and, in 2017, to their first PIAA tournament berth since 2005.

Fortescue was an all-state pick in basketball and soccer, and Dougherty called her energy “infectious.”

“When you see this scrawny kid out there pushing and shoving and battling, it makes you want to do the same thing,” he said. “You want to live up to your teammate’s example. And [Fortescue] and I still talk and text all the time, and she was the same player at Salisbury, and this run at Christopher Newport was so fun to watch. I was so excited for her to get that opportunity, too.”

It was the first time since 2016 that all three NCAA women’s basketball championships had been held at the same site, which she called “a really cool experience.”

“We met the D-I and D-II girls and we were all fangirling all over them, but they basically told us that they’re collegiate athletes just like us,” she said. “I think that made us feel really welcomed and all together and just this experience in the box suites watching, you know, you grow up and you always dream of seeing these things live, and then it’s actually happening. It’s just been awesome that this was the year that it happened.”

Even though basketball sparked a bit of wanderlust in her, Fortescue enjoys coming back home, too. Dougherty spotted her at Drexel’s 2022 WNIT game against Bucknell to watch former teammate Taylor O’Brien with the Bison and knows Fortescue’s story — as well as those of other Colonials who’ve made it to the college ranks — can serve as inspiration for future players.

“The young girls in our school district really look up to these kids, which makes it so nice when they come back,” he said. “They certainly enjoy having the girls be their camp counselors more than the coaches. And [Fortescue] has that kind of infectious personality with the young kinds too. … The girls can see themselves in her and now see her success. And so many people from our community were following her and following the run, too, that it kind of breeds that next generation. The girls say, ‘If [Fortescue] can do it, I can do it, too.’”