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Basketball is a way of life for Times Leader Boys Basketball Player of the Year BobbyPlanutis

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2016 Times Leader Girls Basketball All-Stars

<p>The burning mixture of pure basketball ability and relentless desire boiled deep inside Rebecca Prociak for all these years, like the lava in a volcano just waiting to erupt.</p><p>One night, while nobody was expecting it, all of that pent-up potential came flowing out.</p><p>In a game against her Holy Redeemer girls basketball team&#8217;s nearest division challenger, Prociak poured in 40 points, whisked away 15 rebounds and dismantled everything in her path, leaving the Royals with a new center of attention.</p><p>Then suddenly, there was no holding her back.</p><p>Prociak averaged a league-leading 24.5 points, tore away 9.5 rebounds per game and led Holy Redeemer to the District 2 Class 2A championship and into a third consecutive PIAA quarterfinal game to earn the Times Leader girls basketball player of the year award.</p><p>&#8220;Rebecca was a huge asset to our team,&#8221; said Prociak&#8217;s close friend and Holy Redeemer point guard Lydia Lawson, a fellow Times Leader All-Star. &#8220;She was our leading scorer. You can always depend on her in the paint.&#8221;</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t always that way.</p><p>As a sophomore starter in 2014, Prociak failed in an attempt to convert a key basket near the end of an overtime loss in the District 2 playoffs, a moment that haunted her for days afterwards.</p><p>&#8220;Things like that really hurt,&#8221; said Prociak, who received an emotional lift afterwards from former teammate and Redeemer star Alexis Lewis. &#8220;That really bothered me. I just felt I let our team down. Alexis texted me after the game, saying it&#8217;s a team game, it&#8217;s not your fault. Things like that motivate me to get better.&#8221;</p><p>Flash ahead to this past season, where Prociak played a much brighter part at another pivotal moment.</p><p>In her final high school game, Prociak made a nifty deke move in the paint, slithered past two defenders and beat the buzzer with a soft basket that gave Redeemer a halftime lead over heavily-favored and eventual state champ Neumann-Goretti.</p><p>The 24-4 Royals didn&#8217;t win that Class 2A state quarterfinal game, but Prociak&#8217;s performance that night showed how she blossomed as a team leader and clutch player in just two seasons of her high school career.</p><p>&#8220;That was our go-to player,&#8221; Holy Reeemer coach Chris Parker said. &#8220;When we needed somebody to put the ball in the basket, that was the kid who was going to get it for us. After that game with Goretti, their coach (Andrea Peterson) came over and hugged Rebecca, shared a few nice words with her. They had nobody to stop her.&#8221;</p><p>Prociak made herself into this unstoppable force as a physical 6-foot center.</p><p>The daughter of Michael and Patricia Prociak of Jenkins Township worked tirelessly from the foul line through the offseason in hopes of improving her greatest basketball weakness. She became so much better that her struggles turned into a strength, as Prociak finished second in the WVC with a free throw ratio of 82 percent.</p><p>But that&#8217;s just one example of how pure determination turned Prociak into a dynamo.</p><p>&#8220;She worked all season on her dribbling,&#8221; Parker said. &#8220;She&#8217;s a true student of the game. And she has a phenomenal attitude.&#8221;</p><p>Prociak reached a phenomenal milestone, hitting her 1,000th career point during the season.</p><p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t expect to get that. That was cool,&#8221; Prociak said.</p><p>And all those spin moves and reverse pivots she pulled off while piling so many points into the basket didn&#8217;t come about by accident, or even overnight.</p><p>&#8220;My dad has really helped me with my moves in the paint,&#8221; Prociak said. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t always the best shooter. He taught me how important that was, to create (space) and make my moves in the paint. I think my goal was, coming into the season, I wanted to play good defense, be a team leader and rebound.</p><p>&#8220;Scoring would be secondary.&#8221;</p><p>That game plan changed quickly.</p><p>With Lewis, the WVC&#8217;s all-time leading scorer, moving on to play for Iona as a college freshman, the Royals needed to find some offense fast this season.</p><p>&#8220;With her gone, someone had to step up,&#8221; Prociak said.</p><p>So Prociak stepped straight to the forefront, highlighted by her 40-point night in a victory over Northwest that all but sewed up the WVC Division 3 championship for Redeemer.</p><p>&#8220;Senior year, I think Rebecca came out of her shell,&#8221; Lawson said, &#8220;and stepped into the leader role. Her apprehension was gone. Our game against Northwest, I think that&#8217;s when she broke out. Rebecca obviously had a great scoring game. But she also had a great all-around game.</p><p>&#8220;Without her, we would have been at a great disadvantage.&#8221;</p><p>With Prociak leading the way, Redeemer retained its dominance over the WVC Division 3, won its first District 2 title in Parker&#8217;s five years and took two state victories for a third consecutive season &#8212; all after losing the player who put up the most points in conference history.</p><p>&#8220;It was so special,&#8221; Prociak said. &#8220;No one expected us to be a good team this year. Without Alexis, people just didn&#8217;t expect us to do anything. Just to be able to do it as seniors was really special.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m really proud of our team and the way we finished.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer center Rebecca Prociak became the center of attention in the Wyoming Valley Conference while blossoming into the league&#8217;s leading scorer. The Times Leader girls basketball player of the year took the Royals to WVC Division 3 and District 2 Class 2A championships and into the PIAA quarterfinals for a third straight season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Rebecca-Prociak1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer center Rebecca Prociak became the center of attention in the Wyoming Valley Conference while blossoming into the league&#8217;s leading scorer. The Times Leader girls basketball player of the year took the Royals to WVC Division 3 and District 2 Class 2A championships and into the PIAA quarterfinals for a third straight season. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Holy Redeemer senior was the center of a near-perfect season</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Holy Redeemer’s Rebecca Prociak earns Times Leader Player of the Year by ruling the paint to near perfection