Riley Childress will continue her education and basketball career at Roberts Wesleyan. Submitted photo

Sometimes you just know.

Warren Area High School senior Riley Childress has had this goal — to play college basketball — for a long time.

“And as soon as I got there, I knew it was where I wanted to be,” said Childress of Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, N.Y. “Everyone was so friendly and the coaching staff and team treated me so well. I started talking to coach (Kevin) Clifford at the beginning of August and we talk almost every day now.

“Since I was in middle school, I knew I wanted to continue to play in college,” she said. “It was a huge dream of mine. A few times throughout high school, I thought about maybe not playing and just focusing on school, but my parents continued to support me and I decided that my life without basketball is just not normal. My mom, dad, and sister, for sure, have been the biggest ones to encourage me. My mom has spent so much time taking me to visits and tournaments and practices; I can’t thank her enough. My dad knew I was talented since I was younger with how athletic I was, and he would show me all these sports I could play. Basketball is one that I loved.”

It shows.

Childress has been starting point guard for Warren since she was a freshman. She averaged 14 points, 5.2 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals as a junior in 2021, helping the Dragons win their second District 10 title in three seasons. She is poised to reach 1,000 points in her high school career early in her senior season.

“I guess we actually developed her into a true point guard without even planning it,” said her mother, and a former high school and middle school basketball coach, Stacy Childress. “Growing up, we never wanted her to be focused on points; we wanted her to be focused on other things like assists, good passes, steals, defense… Those are the things that we focused on at our house. We never asked, ‘how many points did you have?’ We always asked her, ‘how many good passes did you make? How many people did you help score? How many steals did you have for your team?’ I think all these things have developed her into a true point guard because she’s always looking up the floor to pass the ball to the person closest to the basket. She’s probably a little bit too unselfish, I think. She probably needs to take a few more shots.”

Childress, while nearing 1,000 career points, was the freshman point guard when Margo Loutzenhiser surpassed the mark. Two seasons later, Childress helped junior teammate Emma Ruhlman reach the milestone.

All three players advanced to play at the Division 2 level — Loutzenhiser will be in her junior season at Gannon University this winter, and Ruhlman committed to Hillsdale College in Michigan in 2022.

“Riley makes our 5th college commitment over the last 6 years,” said Warren head coach Lisa LaVan. “It is amazing to think we have had, or will have, 5 players now go off to college and have some or all of their college paid for through basketball. We have come a long way. Riley has had this goal for a long time and to watch her achieve it like the other four is amazing.”

Stacy said Riley has been fortunate to play for LaVan and this program.

“She has these kids basically playing all year-round,” said Stacy. “They take a month off here or there, but they’re basically in the gym year-around and she’s only getting paid to do it from November to February.”

In return, Childress has helped LaVan and the Dragons win 2 District 10 Class 5A championships in 3 seasons.

“What I love most about Riley is that she’s a gamer,” said Stacy. “She’s a competitor so, when it’s game time and she is in charge of defending the other team’s best guard or we need to get a quick steal somehow, she always seems to come through. I think she lives for that kind of competition. If Riley’s careless with the ball and somebody takes it from her, I always chuckle in the stands because I know what’s going to happen next; Riley will make her pay for that and she will steal the ball over and over and over again.”

Sports started with Riley tagging along to her older sister’s games.

“Riley tagged along with Taylor to all her practices and, since I was coaching every sport they played, Riley practiced right with the older kids,” said Stacy. “Riley loves competition and she hates to lose. She used to play every sport, but in seventh grade decided to stick to just basketball even though (Riley’s father, Red) thinks that her true sport is soccer. She hates it when we say that.

“Red and I are really proud of her,” said her mom. “She has stayed really focused these last two years and is working really hard to be the best that she can be. We’re so happy that all this work has paid off and she has the opportunity to play at a higher level.”

Higher levels have never bothered her before.

“Her dad was always giving her challenges to do on the trampoline,” said Stacy. “She would spend about 3 minutes practicing and then yell for him to come back and watch what she just learned how to do.”

Childress has always had speed and athleticism, but the guard is as driven as they come.

“My sister has never once told me I couldn’t do it,” said Riley. “Multiple times, I would leave practice or games and be like, ‘Taylor, I did so bad; I won’t play in college,’ and she has always been so supportive and here i am! I know it will be the best 4 years of my life, but they will also be stressful and hard. The goals this year is to win our region, another D10 title, and just have the best senior year I can. I’m so relieved and happy that all my hard work has paid off. The next step is to continue to workout every day, and get even better and stronger.”

Her work ethic and skill set translates to the next level.

“So happy for Riley,” said LaVan. “I think Roberts is a great fit for her. Coach Clifford and I talked about her a few times. He has always been impressed with her ability to shoot the ball, defend, and push the tempo on offense in transition. Riley will fit in great there.”