Clevenger signs with Manchester for basketball

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester senior Rylee Clevenger signs with Manchester University to continue her basketball and academic careers. From left – Holly Clevenger, Rylee’s mother; Rylee; Ryan Clevenger, Rylee’s father; Jacob Nigh, Rochester girls basketball assistant coach and Rylee’s brother.

It started with a travel team that went to The Zone in Plymouth when she was a third-grader, and Rylee Clevenger’s basketball journey is not over yet.

The Rochester senior signed with Manchester University to continue her basketball and academic careers Monday.

Manchester is an NCAA Division III school located in North Manchester.

“I was thinking of Manchester before the whole basketball thing,” Clevenger said. “I’ve toured there twice now. I played at a basketball camp there, so we had a tour right after that. And I just really enjoyed the campus and the smaller campus and college life there. And it’s also closer to Rochester, so not being too far from home and being able to play basketball at the collegiate level is very ideal for me.”

Those attending senior night at the RHS gym Jan. 30 heard Clevenger say in a pre-taped address that she was planning on attending Manchester. That she would also play basketball there was only finalized within the week after senior night with a text and phone call.

She said she wants to major in business.

“I’m currently thinking about interior design,” Clevenger said. “I’m not totally for sure on that, but definitely going down the business route.”

Clevenger averaged 8.9 points, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game for the Lady Zs as a senior.

The team went 16-7 and finished in third place in the Three Rivers Conference, and Clevenger was voted first-team all-TRC.

She made a team-best 54 3-pointers, and she made at least one 3-pointer in 22 of Rochester’s 23 games.

She took note of how many girls started playing with her and that by the end of her high school career, that group was down to Ella McCarter, Audrey Bolinger and her. She said they are a “close-knit, little trio.” They are also tennis teammates in the spring, and Bolinger and Clevenger are also volleyball teammates in the fall.

“I’ve always loved it,” Clevenger said. “In third grade, we had our own travel team. We went to Plymouth and played at The Zone with all the girls in my grade. So it’s been really special since, and to have just us three seniors end it all was just crazy as we dropped classmates throughout, but it was really awesome.”

Clevenger said that Manchester coach Josh Dzurick puts an emphasis on academics.

“He really focuses on school first, which I thought was super important,” Clevenger said. “He says how all the athletes on his team do study tables together and help each other out. So I just think that being able to bond and already have a team going into college is really important, and for anything that I need help with, to have literal teammates and life teammates overall just to help support me and find my way through college.”