Girls Basketball: Jersey Village's Lewandowski reflects on 100th victory - Houston Chronicle
For Patricia Lewandowski, home is 209 miles away from Jersey Village High School.
The 42-year-old Corpus Christi native always had dreams about being a coach in a metro area city coaching at the Class 6A level.
She has been through the ups and downs in her basketball career as a head coach and as an assistant, but Lewandowski wouldn't have it any other way.
"I do look back on where I started from and how I got to where I'm at today," Lewandowski said. "I have had a lot of people in my corner helping me throughout my career. Sometimes things have been tough, but you just have to fight through everything just like we tell our girls."
Lewandowksi is in her second season at Jersey Village and celebrated an historic mark in her coaching career. On Jan. 18, her Lady Falcons defeated Northbrook 67-5 in a District 17-6A game.
For Lewandowski, it was her 100th win in her coaching career as a head coach.
It was a milestone that she appreciated reaching, but as a head coach it's always on to the next game.
She has coached for 20 years and been a head coach for ten seasons.
Lewandowski started her head coaching career in the Corpus Christi area.
Her first coaching gig was at John Paul II. From there, she went on to coach at Ingleside, Riviera and at her alma mater CC Ray where she's in the Hall of Fame. Coaching in the Corpus area meant taking on more than one sport. She felt she could coach in several sports and was willing to take the workload to help girls improve.
That 100th win meant a lot to Lewandowski as she has had so many players, coaches and managers on the way for help. She didn't do it by herself and will be the first to tell you that.
After spending two seasons at Atascocita as an assistant coach she then arrived in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD.
In her first year at Jersey Village, she had to lay the foundation, but also had to deal with COVID-19 protocols.
"It was for sure a challenge," Lewandowski said. "You know you come into your first year and want to set everything you want to do. But last year we did a lot of cleaning, keeping the girls separated because we never knew what was going to happen. Every day it was something new."
Jersey Village was an under the radar team last season and wasn't ranked in the Texas Association of Basketball Association preseason poll. That changed when Lewandowski and her Lady Falcons won 15 games in a row and her peers started noticing her program and were state ranked for the rest of the season.
The Lady Falcons' season ended in the area round to a tough Fort Bend Dulles squad, but it was a season Lewandowski will never forget competing at the Class 6A level in a metro city for the first time in her coaching career.
"Last year was a really special year for me," Lewandowski said. "We caught a lot of teams by surprise, but we had some really great girls. It was something the young girls who are playing now got to see and now it's their time to have the ball and step up."
Gia Adams (Tennessee State) and Briana Peguro (Trinity Valley Community College) were the one-two punch for Jersey Village last season.
The Lady Falcons are a really young team this season and are fighting for their playoff lives. Junior point guard J'Nya Thomas sets up the Lady Falcons offense. Sophomore post Mariyah Brown is improving every day and is a standout player for Jersey Village. Jayla Lewis is coming into her own as a guard. Defensive specialist Makayla Daniels comes in and brings a high motor and toughness.
"There has been a lot of growing this year," Lewandowski said. "The girls are understanding their roles and we're teaching them every day. There's so much to basketball than just scoring. You have to do all the little things right. J'Nya really has come into her own after learning from Briana Peguro. Maryiah Brown has a lot of talent and is moving into that leadership role. She's understanding her versatility and isn't a one-dimensional player. She has the ability to be special. We have a lot of kids that are helping out right now."
Time will tell if Lewandowski and the Lady Falcons will make the playoffs. Jersey Village is currently in fifth place with a 5-5 record through ten games.
Lewandowski always think of her hometown and throughout the school year will make trips back home to see family. She knows where to get tacos and great Mexican food, to walk on the beach and of course pay her respects to the queen of Tejano by visiting the Selena statue.
South Texas means a lot to the former Texas A&M-Kingsville standout and she's looking to rack up more wins in her coaching career and bring a state title back to Jersey Village one day.
"This is my passion, this is what I love to do," Lewandowski said. "The thing is that we're telling our players to be together as a team. When you have love for each other it makes it easy on the court. I really like the youth this team has, and we want to get into the playoffs. I like it here with my team and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
marcus.gutierrez@chron.com
Twitter:@MarcG14Line
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