Each year, thousands of student-athletes make the leap from high school to collegiate athletics. Of those athletes, few see playing time in their rookies seasons, and even fewer shine amongst their team’s best players. Emma Redding is among the fewest of the few.

Coming off an illustrious high school career at Allentown Catholic High School in Allentown, Pa., Redding has continued to impress at Washington and Lee.

“She’s the inside force that we’ve been missing,” said W&L women’s basketball coach Christine Clancy. “She’s really established herself as one of the top post players in the ODAC, on the offensive end and the defensive end.”

Statistically, Redding ranks top five on the team in eight different categories such as points per game, assists per game, and rebounds per game. Redding also leads the team in blocks with 1.5 per game, a statistic Clancy believes is the highest the program has ever seen. Redding’s 1.6 assists per game were also highlighted by Clancy as a significant aspect of her game.

“The special thing about Emma on the offensive end is how good of a passer she is,” said Clancy. “She has almost two assists per game which is pretty rare for a center.”

Beyond statistics, Redding has shown herself to possess certain unmeasurable aspects, such as the ability to perform under pressure, a highly impressive trait for a first-year.

A prime example came on Dec. 9, when the Generals went into overtime against Hollins. Redding hit a jump shot early into extra time and then a free throw in the final seconds to help her team to a 63-61 victory.

“You just get into game time mode,” said Redding. “I don’t really think about [the pressure]. You just shut out the crowd, you’re on the court, you’re doing your thing and you’re going to do anything to win the game.”

Redding as helped contribute a lot to the Generals’ 12-3 record this season. She believes her team’s winning ways are far from over, too.

“I think we’re going to be able to do really good things,” said Redding. “Even some of the girls who aren’t getting the most minutes this year play phenomenally in practice and they have some great potential going forward. I think if we can just keep building off that and everyone keeps improving, we’re just going to keep going up from here.”