Exeter’s Jen Eck to play basketball for Lebanon Valley College

When Jen Eck joined the Exeter Township High School girls basketball team as a freshman, she make a quick impact. She led the team in scoring with 222 total points that season. The second highest total on the team was 66 points. She went on to lead the team in scoring the following three seasons, compiling 1,099 career points for the Lady Eagles. The point guard was the engine that helped her team turn a program that went three straight season without winning a Berks League game (and winning just two in the last seven seasons), to one that won 10 league games over the past two years. Eck graduates this fall and she will be be seriously missed by a team that will have a tough time filling her shoes.

But Exeter’s loss will be Lebanon Valley College’s gain as last month Eck signed her letter-of-intent to play women’s basketball for the Dutchmen. Although Eck was a point guard at Exeter, she believes she will move to the shooting guard position at LVC.

“I like that it’s not too big of a school, and I like the distance from home,’ said Eck. “I also like the new coach (Amy Sokaitis). She’s young and seems really dedicated to making the team win.’

Eck wasn’t even considering the school until last summer. She was playing basketball for her AAU team at the U.S. Jr. National Tournament in Chicago. Coach Sokaitis saw her play and the liked what she saw. She talked to Eck about playing at LVC, so Eck started to look into the school.

She visited the school later in the summer and got a good feeling about the school.

I liked the campus itself, and it was very private. I really liked that part,’ said Eck.

She is already getting a jump start on her collegiate career. She is playing with some of her future teammates in a summer league this year. She’s getting a chance to know her teammates which will be a big help to her next season. She’s hoping it will help her game enough that she’ll be able to play a lot of minutes as a freshman.

“The coach said there is definitely a chance for me to get some playing time next season,’ said Eck. “I’ve just got to put in the work to make it happen.

“I will miss my teammates at Exeter. We had a chance to help turn things around at Exeter and that was a great experience for us. It was rough at first, because we lost so much. But it helped to build our character as we tried to turn things around.’