Basketball, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Derrick Rose
Favorite team: Lafayette men’s basketball team
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating our rival North Penn at home in basketball my sophomore year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that happened while competing in sports: When my best friend slipped running out to do her handshake during the announcements of the starting lineup this year.
Music on iPod: J. Cole
Future plans: I will be playing lacrosse next year at Philadelphia University where I will be studying fashion merchandise in the hopes of becoming a buyer
Favorite motto: ‘When something bad happens, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.’
One goal before turning 30: To have a steady job and to be happy
One thing people don’t know about me: Right after college, I want to go backpacking across Europe.
Liz Mower is signed, sealed and delivered to play lacrosse at Philadelphia University next year, so it’s easy to understand why basketball coach Lynn Carroll wasn’t certain the Souderton senior would be back on the hardwood this winter.
“I told her at our end-of-the-season meeting last year, ‘I would totally understand if basketball wasn’t in the cards for you next year. Are you feeling like you don’t want to play?’” Carroll said. “She immediately said, ‘I’m definitely playing.’
“I know that she loves the game, but I would be surprised if part of her decision didn’t have to do with the commitment she has to her teammates and coaches. She’s a loyal person, and she wouldn’t want to let somebody down.
“It’s a risk. Her future is in lacrosse, and she’s getting money to go to a university to play lacrosse. For her to be willing to play with us – to say that I’m grateful is certainly an understatement. What she brings to the team off the court is invaluable, and she makes everybody better on the court.”
It’s what Mower brings off the court, according to Carroll, that sets her part. Last year, Mower was sidelined the entire season with a torn ACL after playing varsity as a freshman and sophomore. She didn’t miss a game and only missed practices for rehab.
“Other than that, she was at everything,” Carroll said. “We’re talking not just when the season rolled around. She was at every fall league game.
“We had a really young team with three freshman guards – Bianca Picard starting and Katie O’Connor and Allison Gallagher coming off the bench. Playing on the varsity is a lot to deal with, and she was just unbelievably helpful.”
Carroll wasn’t surprised to see Mower step into such an important role.
“She has come to me over the course of the last four years that I’ve coached her and said - Do you want me to talk to this player? Is there anything I can do to help this situation?” the Indians’ coach said. “She’s so much more than just about herself and her own well being.
“While I do think a lot of people grow into that type of person and maybe by the time they’re a senior, they’re that way, but she was born this way. She has a wonderful supportive family, so it’s not a surprise she is the way she is. She’s just been great.”
Helping others comes naturally to Mower, who established that as a priority when choosing her senior project.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in the beginning, but I obviously wanted to help someone in some way,” she said. “I was thinking about it one day, and I realized how lucky I am to be able to play the sports I do and that my parents can provide me with the opportunity to play them.
“In lacrosse, they give me the gear I need, and just realizing how many kids don’t have that – I was telling my mom and said I really wanted to do something with that.”
Around that time, Mower’s mother came across an article about St. Joe Prep lacrosse coach Eric Gregg’s effort to grow lacrosse in the inner city through a program called LEAPS (Lacrosse, Education, Attitude, Perseverance and Success).
“Kids in Center City Philadelphia come to camps and clinics, and they teach them how to play lacrosse, and they give them gear because they can’t afford it,” said Mower. “They teach them how lacrosse can not only be a sport to play, but it can keep you out of trouble, it can help you get into college and get you (scholarship) money, and it can make a better future for you.
“I got in contact with him right away and said, ‘I know it’s mainly for guys, but would you need any girls’ lacrosse sticks?’ He was so thrilled because they wanted to get girls to come to the camps.”
Mower worked at one of the LEAPS clinics at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
“The girls were always asking questions,” she said. “They wanted to get better. It was a great experience.”
In addition, Mower collected 50 sticks, 30 pairs of goggles as well as some mouth guards and lacrosse balls.
“I went on Facebook and made an event, invited my friends and people really wanted to help,” Mower said. “It was a cool experience.”
When it comes to playing sports, Mower has involved in competitive sports for as long as she can remember. She started playing basketball when she was five and added lacrosse in sixth grade at the suggestion of a close friend.
“I always thought I was going to play basketball in college up until my sophomore year during lacrosse season,” Mower said. “I really loved lacrosse that year.”
She had decided to compete in a summer league, but in a late season game against North Penn, Mower’s knee collapsed during a collision.
“I limped off and said, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’” she recalled. “I never had a bad injury. I never had broken any bones or anything, so I went back into the game and tried to play, but I was like, ‘I can’t cut or anything. I’m not even helpful out here, so take me out. ‘I really thought I had gotten bumped, and it would hurt for five minutes, and then I’d go back in.”
Mower didn’t want to believe the initial diagnosis that she had torn her ACL, but a second opinion confirmed her worst fears. She had surgery in early June.
“It was definitely life altering,” she said. “I have been playing sports all year round since I was five, and then to all of a sudden stop for nine months was really hard.
“My mom especially and my whole family and friends were so supportive. Even coach Carroll always was asking how my progression was going. I had a really good support system through the whole thing.”
Although she was unable to play, Mower opted to stay with her basketball team that winter.
“I just wanted to be there,” she said. “If anyone needed to talk, if they were down on themselves, I was the person to talk to them. I couldn’t be out on the court, but I could be there if they needed a pick-me-up or if anyone needed advice. I really tried to help with that and be supportive and get the girls excited to play.”
Mower admits that being sidelined was anything but easy.
“I kind of went crazy sometimes being on the sidelines, wishing I was in there, but it definitely taught me a lot,” she said. “It honestly gave me a lot of respect for people who come out to practice every single day and don’t get time in the game. I just realized how they felt. Now I have so much respect for those players and how devoted they are, so it really did teach me a lesson that everything happens for a reason.”
The decision whether or not to play basketball as a senior was a relatively easy one for Mower.
“Honestly, it just comes down to – I enjoy playing basketball,” she said. “I am playing lacrosse in college, but I just have fun with basketball. I love my teammates, I love the coaches. It’s just a fun sport for me.”
Mower is a key piece of the puzzle for the Indians this season.
“She’s versatile,” Carroll said. “She can drive to the basket, she has a pull-up jumper, and she can hit the three.
“I know we missed her last year, but as soon as she came back, I forgot how good she was. I love her and Bianca (Picard) together. Both of them have such high basketball IQ. It’s really exciting to watch.”
Mower has accepted a lacrosse scholarship to Philly U, and her lacrosse coach, for one, believes she will experience considerable success at the next level.
“Liz is an all-around outstanding athlete,” coach Nicole Bauer said. “She has developed into a dynamic player on the field and a vocal leader off the field. Her passion for the game and her team has grown tremendously over the years. I am excited for her to continue her lacrosse career at the college level.”
An honor roll student, Mower - who plans to pursue a fashion merchandising major with the goal of one day beoming a buyer - is enrolled in honors and AP classes. She is a member of the Link Crew, a leadership program that helps underclassmen transition to high school.
Again, it’s a natural fit for a student-athlete who genuinely enjoys helping others.
